The Tribune

THE school year may have ended but learning continued for nearly 100 youths spending the week exploring Grand Bahama.

"Lucayan Trails" is the name for this year's Governor General's Youth Award (GGYA), Bahamas Award Super Expedition (BASE) that runs for ten days from June 29 to July 8.

BASE assembles GGYA participants from across the country, inviting them to explore new territories and partake in hiking expeditions that would qualify them for a bronze, silver, or gold award.

This year participants came from New Providence, Andros, Inagua and Grand Bahama.

Around 75 participants, adult unit leaders and volunteers cast off from Potter's Cay Dock on Thursday, June 29, aboard a mailboat bound for Freeport. Thirteen hours later, they joined 20 Grand Bahama-based participants in setting up camp at Jack Hayward High School.

For fraternal twins Tahj and Tionne Dorsett, GGYA serves a dual purpose. They have incredible experiences while gaining valuable skills.

Tionne, the elder by three minutes, hatched the idea of joining the programme after his sister suggested they both join the Royal Bahamas Defence Force Rangers.

"It teaches us discipline," said Tionne.

His sister added: "Both teach us about surviving in the real world, on our own."

On expeditions, the rising twelfth graders at Anatol Rogers Rodgers High School work as a team. "She cooks and I eat and clean," said Tionne.

While the twins viewed GGYA as a means of getting them outdoors, for Rickesha Rolle it provided an outlet for her aggression and it acted as a weight loss programme for Olrenika Hindsey.

"This programme helped me to change my attitude for the better. I would kick up attitude with authority figures," said Rickesha, a 2017 graduate of Huntley Christie High School, formerly North Andros High who is hoping to qualify for the gold award.

"GGYA made me realise I needed to stop, settle down, get serious about life and get ready for the real world. It helped me improved my relationship with my peers, co-operate more."

For her schoolmate, Olrenika, the programme, which encourages physical fitness, helped her to shed unwanted pounds.

"I was 140 pounds when I started. Now, I'm down to 124," said the 5ft 2in eleventh grader.

This week, gold award participants will conduct a research study on the bird life in the Lucayan National Park and complete a hiking expedition which will take them through Waters Cay, Bevans Town and Riding Point.

Meantime, the silver award expedition team will travel along the island's foreshore from Gold Rock Creek, a cove in Freeport, to Pelican Point.

"They are in for quite an experience and a challenging exploration," says GGYA's national director, Denise Mortimer describing the days ahead for the programme's 36 gold and 38 silver participants.

Recipients of a silver award must complete a three-day/two-night journey spanning 30 miles while the gold award journey is a four-day/three-night expedition covering 60 miles. No bronze award-level participants made this trip.

All participants carry a backpack with their belongings. Its recommended weight is between 20-30 per cent of their body weight. Not surprisingly, a number of training sessions are held prior to the qualifying trek.

The expedition is for many the final requirement necessary to receive their award after months of fulfilling community service, skills, and physical recreation obligations.

BASE attracted a slightly smaller crowd this year. Attendance tends to hover around 125 participants. Ms Mortimer attributes the decline to families' discretionary income shrinking. Thus, BTC's sponsorship of North Andros' participants proved to be a "godsend" for the organisation.

A further set-back was the recent break-in at GGYA's headquarters in Palmdale which resulted in thousands of dollars lost in office equipment.

"We could always use funding especially from the private sector," she said. "No one forces these young people to engage with the programme. This is something they want to do. It's sad when lack of funds stand in their way especially for inner city youths and at-risk young people."