From long jump to life mottos, no subject was off limits for 15-year-old Elena Mitchell in her quest for success in the inaugural Duke of Edinburgh Roving Reporters – License to Adventure competition.
The Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar student narrowly beat three other finalists to be crowned the Duke’s Roving Reporter 2013 at a ceremony last month.
An initiative from Awards Victoria, the competition invites young people from across the state to create a video and blog post documenting their adventures as a Duke of Edinburgh Award participant.
Mitchell was among the four top entrants selected to be Roving Reporters last May, competing in quarterly challenges and producing monthly blog and video posts to share her experiences throughout the year.
She says the competition was an opportunity to turn a hobby into a skill.
“I’ve been making short films with my friends since grade three, so I thought this would be a fun thing to do to build on that.
“[The competition] taught me so much about camera angles, lighting and editing, and I’ve also been able to meet heaps of different people and talk to them about what they like about their jobs.”
Roving Reporter ambassador and judge Nathan Strempel says Mitchell emerged as the overall winner because of
her versatility.
“We tried to give [participants] a really diverse experience of media and communications and Elena was very strong in every area,” he says.
“She captured a spirit of fun in everything she did. She found her own brand and her own angle to bring to her blogs and videos … there was a real consistency of commitment in all her work.”
The finalists – Mitchell, Ellie Drenth (McKinnon Secondary College), Callum Nguyen (Xavier College) and Jess Gair (Strathcona BGGS) – covered sports events, produced travel segments and met professional news teams, sharing their experiences on the License to Adventure website. Mitchell says her favourite task was to conduct a radio interview with basketballer Adam Ballinger of the Melbourne Tigers, but the best thing about the competition was the help she received from her classmates.
“Pretty much my whole year level was involved in some way … even on weekends they came over and I really appreciated their help,” she says.
As the Duke’s Roving Reporter, Mitchell takes home a MacBook Air laptop, an Olympus digital camera, a production assistant role with Fuzzy TV and mentoring sessions with Strempel, who is a presenter and sports commentator for TV and radio.
The Duke of Edinburgh Award is an international program that provides young people aged 14 to 25 with a framework to develop skills and engage with the community through a self-appointed program of activities.
Awards are given in three stages: bronze (for ages 14 and over), silver (for ages 15 and over) and gold (for ages 16 and over).
Mitchell, who got involved in the program through school, is excited to be a youth ambassador for 2014, promoting Duke of Edinburgh competitions and mentoring the next batch of roving reporters, all while completing her silver award.
Mitchell says she’s considering a career in politics and journalism might be on the cards too. Right now, however, she’s keen to get her two older brothers – both overseas – on Skype to tell them about her big win.
