Day Four (Thursday September 4th)
Usually, today would have warranted me a day off school, but I was lucky because I was already on work experience. In any normal situation, I'd have had to have submitted an absense request to school at least 48 hours previously, which wouldn't have been possible as today was the beginning of the term. Today was cool. Today was awesome. Today was something I could never have expected. But today happened.
The secrecy of the last post can now be thrown aside as I explain the situation. Communities and Local Government secretary for state, Hazel Blears recently expressed a desire to have a panel of young people to advise her directly on government policies to do with young people and communities. Naturally, when Young Advisors was given the go ahead to organise this for her, I applied! Not expecting much of it, I sent a last minute application from a hotel room in America. To my amazement, about a week after I got back, I got a email saying that I'd been invited back to a selection day at the CLG headquarters in Victoria. To say I was pleased would be an understatement.
So, today is all about my lil interview.
The day started at 11am, in Victoria, Central London, I woke up at 9am. So, all good so far. 2 hours to race into London. I eat a healthy breakfast of Coco Pops and coffee, wash, dress and get walking. 15 minutes later I arrive at Chingford train station, still moping about my lack of a bike. I decide to act all adult and I buy a coffee and newspaper and get on my train. I instantly regret my choice of carriage, as a school load of kids gets on before the train leaves. I casually get up and wander through to the next carriage. A few minutes later, the women who was previously sitting opposite me does the same thing; we exchange a knowing smile. At Walthamstow Central I jump off the train and run down the stairs and through the ticket barriers and down the escalators in true London style. I find a Victoria line train (not hard, as I had a choice of two platforms) and board it. I'm so very tired. I begin to nod off, and I spend the remainder of the journey in a state that's somewhere between sleep and passive awareness, only being disturbed as some crazy man gets on at Islington, and again at Oxford Circus as said crazy man gets off.
My first mistake at Victoria was leaving via the wrong exit. I knew vaguely where Bressenden Place is, but I had no idea I had left from the wrong exit. So after 5 minutes of fruitless wondering, I walk back through the station and find the right exit. As I step out onto the pavement, the following exchange occurs:
Man from free water company: "Hey, you! Want some?"
Me: "Huh, wha, me?"
Him: "Uh, yeah"
Me: "Is it free?"
Him: "Sure" *throws bottle at me*.
At this point, my brain suddenly decides to wake up, and I execute a skillful twist and catch. In my haste to look good, I promptly trip down the curb, but rescue myself before humiliation occurs. I confidently strole out in front of a No. 8 bus, thinking that it would stand to logic for the driver to slow down. But who am I to question the logic of TfL staff!? After escaping said bus, I scamper up a back road that emerges opposite the CLG building (that doesn't look at all governmenty). I walk in, and am instantly surprised. The entire affair looks more like a giant modern hotel reception, with a huge long front desk staffed by receptionists, and lots of seating areas with computers and tables. To be honest, I was confused. Very confused. I wander aimlessly like a lost lamb to the reception desk and mutter something containing the phrases "Hazel Blears", "Advisory panel" and "Young advisors interview". She seemed to comphrehend, and gave me a security tag with my name and purpose on it.
I locate a few fellow Young Advisors sitting in a row of seating a little way away - they're mainly recognisable by being the only young people in any given corporate establishment. I walk over and join them, smiling, introduce myself, find Danni - Southern Region Development Officer and she introduces me properly etc.
After what feels like an eternity, we are finally greeted by Stuart, who is one of the officers in charge of the day. He leads us through security barriers that looked so much like London underground ticket barriers that I instinctively pulled my Oyster card out, before realising it wouldn't work here. We then shot up to the 6th floor and walked through some office full of bored looking people then into a meeting room with a view right across the indoor atrium of the building. (CLG has a floor to roof - 8 floors - atrium area in the centre of the building, it is amazing) We helped ourselves to the free drinks and food, and got to know each other as we waited for other interviewees to arrive, and then we began.
We all knew Jane, Danni, Ste and Gary as they all work for the national charity, but we were introduced to Anna, Carol and Stuart who are the people directly managing the panel. We started with a debating exercise, which was fun, and where I argued the point for not having compulsory education until 18. I was proud of my points! Then we did an exercise where we presented a mock up proposal to build new youth facilities. I worked with fellow London YA, Jacquiline, and we kicked some serious arse.
Our last exercise was the most fun. We were each given a random object and 2 minutes to prepare a presentation on it. We then presented to the rest of the group about our object. Statements such as "This... this is a book!" and "It should be burnt" should basically sum up the randomness of this exercise, but nevertheless it was hilarious.
Then came lunch. Lunch was something that I could never have envisaged. Ever. We were escorted back down to ground level, expecting to be dragged through some drab canteen serving sloppy pizza and rubbery sausages. But no! It seems that central government employees eat in style! A full size restaurant, with chefs with white hats, and different counters for different food, where you could watch it being cooked in front of you... It was amazing! And, for us, it was free! We found a table to sit at, and were joined by a lovely man who'd just started his job, and was evidently scared to sit with the millions of adults around. We talked to him about why we were there, and who we were, and apparently impressed, he told us of his life as a maths teacher in a north London school. He was a nice guy, and we parted company promising to speak again (maybe we will!).
Anyway, while we ate, a rather sinister discussion had been in progress between CLG and YA staff, deciding who was to make it onto the panel. We all traipsed back upstairs, suspense and fear in the atmosphere around us. The problem with this interview was that it was bound to be humiliating for those that didn't get the job. They would be requested to leave the room while the successful applicants continued the day. Fortunately for us, Carol didn't beat around the bush. She read out 8 names - none of them mine, and then a slight pause, I feel myself go taught, waiting for the disappointment. But it never came, she breathed out again and finished her sentence: "and Sean!". I'm like "Whut!? Yay!".
So that was it. We exchanged email addresses and said goodbye to those who hadn't made it. I still couldn't believe I'd done it!
We were then set to work reading through some key information before Hazel arrived to decide who to choose as the advisors.
Eventually, she arrived, and it's funny how people always seem shorter in real life. She's tiny, and has a crunching handshake that hurts if you're not prepared. She sat down, and then we all had a chance to talk about why we were there, and why we wanted to do this. 5 minutes to sum up 4 years of my life seems pretty short, but I managed, all the time very self concious. She then went away for a while to decide, and we were given some forms and things to fill in. After a quick congratulatory speech from Jane, she came back and chose. This time I knew I pretty much wouldn't get it - being the youngest there by at least 3 years was probably a factor in this, and also because I knew my speech hadn't been all that persuasive - I mean, the girl next to me broke down in tears during hers!
As predicted, it wasn't me. Rory and Jacquiline were chosen as the two youth advisors for a year, who would then convene the panel (us), hold meetings with Hazel, and generally get all the publicity (something I thought was a rather stunted idea). Our job was to support Rory and Jacqui, obtain information, research, generally be critical and a few other things. Still though, I was pleased. How many other 15 year olds have managed to get there mits this far into government?

Anyway, that done, I raced home, eager to show off. Not even bothered by the inevitable madman on the train.

Next installment coming when I've done my coursework.