Eight months ago, naïve and blissfully unaware of the workload this year would bring, I signed up for the Young Reporters programme. Eight articles later, most of which only just met the deadline, reflection is upon us.

The first thing I'd like to acknowledge is that there's no way I'm cut out to be an independent reporter considering the fact that I have found my head shockingly blank each and every time I sat down to write. The second is that despite my (lack of) ability to balance my workload, Young Reporters is something I definitely do not regret. Being given a platform on which to talk about my views and the freedom to write about absolutely anything was both exciting and worrying. The opportunities that this scheme has given everyone who participated have been a wonderful experience. The encouragement and support we have received has been both practical and helpful, giving us all the chance to reach our full potential.

The opportunity given by this scheme to allow us to explore our own views and talk about things that really matter to us, even if they weren't all over Instagram or Facebook. The vast variety of topics I alone have written about shows that the only limit was the imagination; this combined with the quality and wide range of topics of everyone else's writing clearly demonstrates the creative potential this scheme offers.

Although it may seem like extra hard work, I would definitely recommend Young Reporters to younger years. It helped with my management of both time and workload (although as I am writing this on deadline day I evidently still have a lot to improve on) and encouraged my interests and opinions. I am very glad to have taken part in this scheme.