Bermuda has marked 40 years of its participation in the esteemed Duke of Edinburgh's Award, a self-development programme available to young people worldwide, with 275 youth from Bermuda taking part annually.

Equipping youth with crucial life skills, more than six million young people from 120 countries, to date, have been motivated to undertake a variety of voluntary and challenging activities.

The Award is a journey of personal discovery for any young person and is voluntary and not a competition.

Recently, a group of Gold Level participants returned from a two-week expedition and residential project in Trinidad and Tobago.

They joined hundreds of young people from various countries in the Americas region for a 50-mile, five-day, four-night hike through the jungles of Trinidad, which involved mountains and treacherous terrain.

Bermudians Sherrita Arorash (Berkeley Institute); Teleza Pitcher (Berkeley Institute); Marcus Symonds (Warwick Academy); John Adcock (Warwick Academy); Brenda June Millett (Bermuda College) and Samantha Smith (Award Leader in Training) went down. The scheme's new executive director, Erica Smith, former Sustainable Development head, said: "I am very excited to be working with an organisation which embodies the best principles of what a youth development programme should be.

Pupils range in age from 14 to 25 years, which Ms Smith says is a critical period for character formation, the years when young people see themselves developing into a broader, national and international society.

Activities include expeditions; skills development incorporating cultural, vocational or manual skills; physical recreation and a residential project experience with three levels – bronze, silver and gold.

Ms Smith added: "My goal for the immediate future is to add at least 50 additional participants per annum for the next three years on a cumulative basis.

"Both by increasing participation in existing organisations and encouraging other organisations to adopt the programme."

In addition, while the Island has enjoyed one of the highest per capita income levels in the world, it's a fact that many more young people in Bermuda could gain from participating, Ms Smith believes. She continued: "As such, I will be striving to grow the programme in the two senior public schools and the Co-ed Facility where it hasn't had the kind of success as in the private school system.

"It is a complimentary programme in many aspects, not the least in that it helps by filling the gap left by formal tuition."

For more information on the programme, log onto www.theaward.bm.