#2 Making your young person feel special

What Makes Your Young Person Special

Sending your young person to The Teen Leadership Challenge is sending your young person to a place where we will look after them and care for them as if they were our own. Your young person won't just be a number, we only have 75 young people at any one point and we ensure everyone feels part of the community.

Our staff will look out for what makes your young person special - it might be their kindness, it might be that they put others' needs in front of their needs, it might be that they work hard to be a great football player, it might be that they make their bed every day without being asked - no matter what your young person does, our staff will look out for what makes them special and will tell them.

At The Teen Leadership Challenge, it's not about being the most sporty or academic, it's also not about being the coolest - it's about learning to be a great person, being a great friend, how to help others and being kind. These are the special things that our staff will look out for. Praise and positive reinforcement will make young people on the Teen Leadership Challenge feel like a million dollars and will go home more confident and more willing to try new things.

Emotional & Physical Safety

We have tried to create a really special & unique environment for the Teen Leadership Challenge. We have created a place where young people feel safe - emotionally and physically safe. We have created a place where young people can create memories that will last a lifetime, friendships that span the globe and learn values that will make them more independent, confident and ultimately happier young adults. 

We do this through creating an atmosphere full of positivity, encouragement and humour. Without the normal pressures of how they look on social media or how well they are doing at school, young people can enjoy themselves and have an adventure without the usual pressures of normal life.

Our Staff

Our staff are the perfect role models for the young people. We receive over 750 applications every year for only 25 staff positions. This means that we can cherry-pick the most experienced applicants who will be great role models. Our staff all attend a group assessment and also do a one-to-one interview. During this, we focus on hiring applicants who are kind, caring and empathetic. You can be the best tennis player in the world but unless you are happy to mentor young people or be able to keep being patient and funny after a tiring few days, you won't be in with a chance of being hired at The Teen Leadership Challenge.  

Our Activities

Our activities are carefully split into three categories - elective challenges, team challenges and event challenges. The reason we do this is to give young people the chance to focus their time on activities they are interested in (Elective Challenges), they get the chance to try completely new and different challenges that will develop their leadership skills (Team Challenge), and give young people the chance to take part in our special events (Event Challenge)