Two Students Complete First Duke of Edinburgh Gold Residential In Gibraltar

Two UK sixth form students have become the first to complete a Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Gold Residential Project in Gibraltar with The Nautilus Project. The five-day programme included snorkelling, cetacean surveys and beach cleans as part of the charity’s first Approved Activity Provider licence in Gibraltar.

A statement from the Nautilus Project follows below:

Two UK sixth formers recently completed a Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Gold Residential Project in Gibraltar.

Emma Burt and Arabella Singleton spent five days snorkelling, surveying cetaceans and cleaning beaches with The Nautilus Project. This is the first under an Approved Activity Provider licence issued in Gibraltar.

The two Lower Sixth students from Guilford High School have become the first young people to complete a TNP hosted Gold Residential Project in Gibraltar.

Emma and Arabella arrived on 13 July and spent five days working alongside The Nautilus Project’s Youth Monitors, the charity’s own team of trained young volunteers. The week covered beach cleans, a bioblitz, snorkelling surveys and cetacean surveys in local waters. Neither had worked on a marine science programme before.

The Gold Residential Project is the section of the Gold Award that sees participants away from home for five days and four nights, among people they have never met, to do something genuinely useful. Most are delivered in the UK but The Nautilus Project holds the licence to deliver one here, issued by the Award in Gibraltar.

What surprised both students most was what was already in the water. Gibraltar sits where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean, and the marine life they saw while snorkelling was, by their own account, the highlight of the week.

The Nautilus Project runs the Gold Residential Project from its base at the Boathouse, Victoria Stadium Complex. The Award programme is open to participants aged 14 to 24.