'Bon Mots' Inspire Duke Of Edinburgh And Enrichment Students

Bonita Norris, the youngest British woman in 2010 at the age of 22 to have ever climbed Mount Everest, proved an inspiring visitor to Bablake last week.

Our Duke of Edinburgh pupils and U6th year group were both invited to listen to talks about Bonita's experiences preparing for and accomplishing her record-breaking climb, and reports from both sessions were very positive.

A chance attendance at a climbing meeting which she attended as a friend's 'bat woman', while studying for her Media Arts degree at Royal Holloway, had proved the stimulus for Bonita's challenge. Having never climbed before, her preparations for the venture were swift, determined and impressive, and she had soon completed time in the Alps and a practice climb on Mount Manaslu in Nepal.

The dream soon became a reality and sponsorship for the climb arrived after a radio interview, but the quest was not without moments of frustration and fleeting doubts and fears. Bonita's amazing achievement has been well documented in the media (e.g. in this Guardian article) and has inevitably formed so much of her life philosophy before, during and since the epic climb.

She taught our pupils to focus on one aspect at a time - small gains - and block out imagined fears, while offering five clear pieces of advice for their future plans:

• Take opportunities!
• Take leaps of faith!
• Believe you are more capable than you think!
• Battle through the hard times or moments of doubt!
• Dare to dream!