Dominika’s Story “I have more energy to face every day”

My name is Dominika. I joined WYZ because I was struggling to find an after school club or activity where I felt happy. I was doing dance and swimming but didn’t feel like I fit in or wanted to carry on with them.

A friend told me about all the fun things that I could do at WYZ so I asked my parents if I could come and have a look round and then see if I wanted to join.

When I first started coming I was excited to start and a little bit nervous about what people would think about me. For a while I wasn’t sure about where to go and what to do so I stayed in the Art Room then I found out about the upstairs activities which I love.

Now I feel relaxed and I know I can come on my own or with a friend. I have made loads of new friends here and get involved in lot’s of different activities depending on what I feel like that day.

I find my own people who like me are fun and funny and thanks to my confidence growing I am not afraid to join new groups if I want to learn something new.

I have learning difficulties and dyslexia so having another young person, youth worker or young leader sit with me helps me to get things done when I am not sure how to do them.

I had never done Enterprise before so working on the Dragons Den small Business competition was a new challenge for me. Luckily I was able to put my drama skills to good use for customer service and managed to talk to people walking past and bring them over to my stall to persuade them to buy my products.

I love drama but had stage fright thinking about performing so attending WYZ has helped me to be more confident in my skills and abilities and I have now done a show with a live audience so have managed to overcome my fears.

I have learnt a lot about myself and my self-value so I can walk away when my friends are doing things that I don’t want to get myself involved in and not let that affect me.

I like the support I get from all of the WYZ staff when I am doing activities.

I enjoyed competing in the Dragons Den Enterprise competition because it was fun to me. It was the first time I had created a business and I was inspired by a friend to do bracelets. I had a vision of how I wanted them to look and the theme I wanted. I chose Moon and Stars because they both make me feel calm. Each bracelet was handmade, one of a kind and was a perfect gift for someone. I am proud of how I did and what I achieved.

I like that I get to do different things each day. I like to dance and do drama and thanks to help from the Music Team I was able to sign up to do a show where I got to perform and sing for a large audience.

I like that I keep making new friends from different backgrounds to me so I now have a lot of friends. I like that I have done projects with Juniors and Seniors and I feel good that some seniors know who I am now so when I go to Seniors I will know people already.

Since joining WYZ I am more cheerful and have more energy to face every day. Coming to the youth zone has made me more confident in myself going into a room or up to a group and asking what they are doing because I might want to join in the activity.

I have loads of diverse friends with different interests and I like that because I can meet up with the friends I want to depending on what activity I want to do that day. I have managed to overcome my fears and learn new skills that will help me in the future.