Young People Celebrate At NCS Graduation Ceremony

This week, over 100 young people celebrated at their NCS Graduation event at the Riverside Stadium, marking the end of a fantastic summer of fun, adventure and social action.

Over the past couple of months, three waves of 15-16 year old’s embarked on a four week long programme with MFC Foundation, which included a week on an away residential, a week based at the University of Teesside, followed by two weeks of raising money and awareness for worthy charities around the region.

With independence and teamwork just two of the traits they are now equipped with, our participants have made friends for life on what has been described as a ‘life changing experience’.

There were cheers and tears on an emotional night as the groups looked back on all they had achieved on the NCS programme, with Team Leaders sharing memorable anecdotes with the audience, as well as lauding praise on their inspirational group members.

Special awards were also handed out to the participants who had gone above and beyond the call of duty; to those who showed exceptional maturity throughout the four long weeks, and consistently displayed a positive can-do attitude.

Middlesbrough U23 duo Enes Mahmutovic and Amadou Sylla know all about being strangers to new surroundings and meeting new people after moving to the club from Luxembourg and France respectively, and they came down to meet the young people on Wednesday night and dish out the awards.

With other guest speakers from some of the groups’ chosen charities expressing their thanks for all of their hard work, NCS Coordinator Jonny Larkin was delighted with the young people’s commitment to the programme.

“It has been a record-breaking year for us on NCS, with the highest number of graduates coming through the programme than ever before. Not only that, we have been very lucky to have some exceptional young people join us on the journey, all with different but equally important characteristics.

“The Team Leaders have sang nothing but praises about their attitude and commitment, and I’m delighted that they have come out the other end even more well-rounded and respectful, which stands them in great stead for the future.”