Isle of Man

Hi all,

It’s been a fun last couple of weeks doing a couple more school visits, and also putting in some training for my next big challenge (can’t tell you that quite yet!). I also spent a couple of nights up over on the Isle of Man courtesy of Canada Life International.

I flew up on Thursday and much to my disappointment it was raining when I got there! It’s been so hot where I live that I didn’t even bother taking a jumper! I only took a thin jacket which wasn’t exactly warm in the slightest, but oh well, worse things have happened!

It was great to meet up with the team at Canada Life and I also did a short interview for the local radio station. That night we had a lovely dinner (thanks Sean!) consisting of steak and lobster and it was back over to the hotel room for a good sleep as I had a big day the day after.

The morning began with a visit to Ballacottier Primary School. I was really impressed with just how behaved the kids were. I did a short 20 minute talk and then it was question time and wow the kids were really responsive. This went down a treat but I had to leave to head over to the High School for another talk so I wasn't able to answer everyone's questions…there were still maybe 30 hands in the air when the head master had to call time!

I arrived at Ballakermeen High School and after being shown around, the sixth form were assembled in the lecture room and I went and delivered a talk to them. This also went down a treat and I was really chuffed. The guys at the high school were all a really good laugh!

 

After this I had the afternoon off and spent it wandering around and having a look at a bit of the Island. It’s certainly a very pretty place. The evening arrived and I headed over to the Hilton for the evening charity dinner. They were raising money for Project 21 and I was the keynote speaker.

The food was once again delicious and after this I was up. I had a really enjoyed talking to the 150 executives in the room and got quite a good few laughs so I was chuffed with the way it went down. It’s great being only 18 and delivering a talk to an audience with an average age of 45! There was a charity auction and they raised £11,000 which was really great news!

This evening I was honoured to be invited to present some awards at the Hendon RAF Museum, for The Alan Senitt Memorial Trust. These were for a few groups of secondary school students who have been following a course to develop leadership skills and have had a really positive effect on their community. One example being, a group of students who totally renovated a sports hut for kids to use.

This week I’m doing some more training (big announcement soon!) for my next project so keep following!

Mike