The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in Bermuda (the Award) is pleased to announce the results from the first “Alumni Olympics” event series that took place on the weekend of Friday 6th to Sunday 8th August, 2021. The event had over 36 participants competing.
The Alumni Olympics was a 3-day event that included Fun Golf, several sporting events including a DofE type triathlon relay, basketball, football, cricket and a navigation scavenger hunt race. The purpose of the event was to engage Gold Participants (past and present) in a 3-day competition to encourage camaraderie and create more of an Alumni Community in Bermuda. It also gave the current Gold level 2020-2021 participants (pictured below) a chance to meet and interact with other Gold Award Holders.
2021 Gold Cohort (pictured left to right):
Front: Jelani Simmons, Yari Tucker, Brianna Smith, Joanna Santiago, Richard Johnston
Back: Trey Vance, Aaron White, Maximilian Santiago, Tommy Marshall
Missing: Enshe-Nico Davis
Champions: The Bermudians - 2021 Gold
Runner’s Up: The Bermie Crew - 2021 Gold
3rd Place: Rakers & Scrapers 2018
4th Place: Zambia 2019 & the Explorers
Alumni Committee (pictured left to right):
Hailey O’Donnell, K’ari Bean, Brianna Simmons, Treiana Zuill and Jevon Talbot
Jevon Talbot, Alumni Committee Member and Co-founder of the Alumni Olympics said, “It was through volunteering for the Award and helping at their Annual Golf Challenge that I realised I hadn’t seen many of my fellow Gold members since our 2018 qualifying journey in Bahamas. This gave me the idea to organise a reunion event for us to connect with past and present Gold level participants. Most importantly, I wanted to make sure the event was in a setting that we could re-create some of the challenges we faced together as a team doing the Adventurous Journey, not just sit around and talk.”
Jevon continued, “Overall, the event was a huge success and I hope that participants keep coming back year after year. It was great to be able to reconnect with old friends, meet new friends, have fun, and remember the Award experience. I hope the event grows and adds another layer to achieving the Award.”
Brianna Simmons, Alumni Committee Member and Co-founder of the Alumni Olympics explained, “After achieving the Gold Level of the Award, we all went our separate ways. The Alumni Olympics gave us an opportunity to reconnect with friends and share our experiences with current participants. The Committee would love to organise more events like this in the future for all Award Alumni to participate, not just at the Gold level.”
Brianna continued, “On behalf of the Alumni Committee, I would like to thank Barritts, the official drinks sponsor, for providing Hint water. Their generous donation kept everyone hydrated throughout the weekend’s events. I would also like to thank BF&M for donating prizes and the Programme Director, Karen Simmons, and Development Director, Fiona Holmes, for their support in making this dream of ours come true.”
In addition to the Alumni Olympics, the Alumni Committee is encouraging all of Bermuda’s Alumni to register on the Global Award’s Alumni Network’s Bermuda page. The aim of the Alumni website is to enable participants to make connections, share experiences, and support future awardees. The Global Award Network brings together Awardees of The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award from all over the world. We are excited to welcome our Bermuda Alumni to be a part of this community.
The Award develops well-rounded, global citizens who take pride in themselves and their communities. If you are interested in the Award, please email fiona@theaward.bm or call 737-8959.