Connected Youth Apprentice: Rachel Moore

When the college sent the application out to my fellow students, I knew it was something I had to at least apply for. Even though taking on the apprenticeship while still studying for a full-time degree was going to be somewhat stressful, it still felt right. I have had the desire to go into youth work for a while and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to gain experience in this area to see if it was something that I actually wanted to do.

I am so glad that I decided to apply, it has been such an amazing experience. I have had the opportunity to gain so many new experiences. Going into the schools to deliver the UBUNTU project which is a good relations project Belfast YMCA deliver in local schools which cover diversity, discrimination, the history of Northern Ireland and flags. This was something that was very new to me. It was extremely scary to begin with and even though it was always something that caused me to be slightly nervous, it is the piece of work that I am most thankful for out of everything we did during the apprenticeship. It allowed me to be pushed out of my comfort zone and helped me develop as a person.

There were many other things that we got to be involved in, one of them being the Youth Club. I really enjoyed the ability to have conversations with the young people and getting to know them. The events that we put on for them were also great fun, such as a Traitors Game which was spread over a couple of weeks and even the normal Youth Club evenings with the board games and general hanging out and having fun.

The Belfast City Council Halloween midterm project (Better Together) took place over a few days which included playing games at our YMCA center, a day trip to Derry/Londonderry and circus training. As well as being a really fun time it was a good experience because it was something very different to the youth work we had done before which was being with the young people for only a couple of hours. But during the Better Together we got the opportunity to spend time with the same group of young people over those few days. This was great as we got to build positive relationships with them.

I also loved working with CFC South to help run their Youth Church. Having the opportunity to lead studies and watch the young people gain more of an understanding of their faith was a real highlight and privilege. As well as working with youth, we got the opportunity to help out with the Kids Club which consisted of leading craft activities and games, followed by a short talk about the bible and a memory verse. This was fun because it meant we got to work with a variety of ages and had the chance to develop skills pertaining to that age group.

Overall it has been a really fun experience working alongside the Belfast YMCA Youth Team and CFC South team. There has always been support provided when it has been needed, especially when it came to their understanding toward the fact I am studying full-time.

I would highly recommend this apprenticeship to anyone, especially if you want to go into youth work and want to gain experience in a youth work setting with a good team to help guide you.