I will start from the beginning. I had just opened the Bebo home page one day and I see the BEBO’S BIG THINK page advertised on the front - I clicked on it to see what it was all about. I read about the whole page and then started to look at the comments, which weren’t really a great help. So I had decided I would enter it and did so using my idea. A few weeks later an email went around my collage about the hole thing and I was like “I have already done this there is no point reading it cus nothing will ever come of it” and that was the last I had thought about it.

A few weeks ago I got a phone call and the person on the other end said their name and I thought it was my friend with the same name pranking me and I had asked them to repeat so they did and I was just asked really if I would be able to fly on the 29th, I replied yea not knowing if it would be. A few phone calls later form the person and they where just talking to me and said we would like to invite you to come over to London to present your idea, I was in shock and said thanks its all I could do I was over the moon, I thought noting would ever come of it but then it had I was on cloud 9.

I went home that night and booked tickets to London and was super happy! I text asking if there was any other finalists going from northern Ireland and to my surprise there was a girl from Belfast, I asked for her number and we started to text and said to each other how exited we were.

Saturday came and I had to pack because I was going up to Belfast the night before so I didn’t have to get up so early for the flight on the Sunday morning. On the Sunday me and the other finalist from Belfast met at the airport and had seats nowhere near 1 another so it was good because we had time to think. We got the train in from Gatwick and we talked about our ideas together and just talked about ourselves. We got into London and the tubes that we needed were down so that didn’t help us going around with the bags, but we did get to the hotel and checked in ok.

We walked around London for a while and got drenched but it didn’t bother me in the slightest! I was too excited. We all had dinner together and started to talk. We then decided to go on a walk but Saad and Pearl had other plans since they where from London and they knew their way around. The rest of us apart from my aunty went on a walk around London, it was good but we were dead tired after it all so to bed we went.

Monday morning up bright and early got ready and we all met downstairs, it was still raining so we all got a taxi to 1 Carlton Gardens. It was an amazing venue with stunning art, we had our breakfast and we all sat around a long table where we met our mentor. Then each mentor had to give a presentation which made every one of the finalists nervous.

After that we went off with each off our mentor and worked on presenting our ideas. I’m so glad I had time for this because she calmed me down and made me realise what I wanted to say. We then had to go over our ideas in front of the finalists and mentors. It was nerve racking and made me think of how hard it would be later in the day. But after more time with my mentor I was a bit better.

The time came and I was really scared but I tried to not let it show. I walked into the room and there was the panel, they made me feel a lot better because they made I feel at home. I gave the best presentation I could have. I was happy enough and I wasn’t bothered from then on if I was in the final because I relished that I would have to do it again in front of more people and it would be more important.

The time came and we all went down and sat in the room, the winners were announced and I was so happy for them, I didn’t see them as rivals. I saw them as friends and was so happy for them. I was also very relived! That night we went out for tea to pizza express where we had laughs and a good time!

The big day came and I was all dressed up well to

Well what to say? The whole experience has been a little surreal I mean after going home you start to wonder if you really did go to downing street and meet Gordon Brown.

But I wouldn’t trade it for the world, the things I’ve learned and the people I’ve met will stick in my mind for a very long time. The judges, the mentors, the other finalist and their guardians were all really nice people who I hope to meet again one day, as well as the members of the cabinet office lol.

It was a really an amazing experience and I think that any young person who has an idea that they think could change things should go for it! Who knows perhaps they might one day go to Downing Street too.

Monday November 30th – what a tense day for the 6 semi-finalists who have come to London to present their chosen ideas to the panel (Cabinet Minister Tessa Jowell, joined by drum 'n' bass pioneer Goldie, record-breaking mountaineer Jake Meyer, Apprentice winner and successful business supremo Michelle Dewberry and Ginny Lunn, the big cheese at leading charity The Prince's Trust) Having all had an early start, the 6 had already had a long morning with their mentors, fine tuning their ideas and working on their presentation skills.

After their final words of wisdom, one by one the group had to overcome their nerves to pitch their idea for Britain and how they could help combat one of the 3 Cs (Crime, Careers and Climate Change).

The clock struck 3 o'clock, the time had arrived for the first contender to enter the room.

Saad Raja was up first, his idea was to find a better way to connect young people to their local council through a social networking service which would help young peopleconnect to people living in their street, and leverage local connections to help get their career underway. The idea would also help young people to better interact with their local council. The Panel had some challenging questions for Saad, Goldie was concerned about how the site would work, while Michelle was concerned that there was not a need to create new social networks but Saad gave answers which seemed to satisfy and impress the panel.

Pearl Amoateng went second. Her idea was to set up centres which would help young people become more confident and boost their self esteem. This new found confidence would in turn help give young people the boost they need to go out and find jobs which she hoped would lead to a reduction in crime. Goldie told of how he used to go to community centres while growing up, and wondered how the infrastructure would differ to this. Pearl explained that she believes youth centres are not used any more, and would like to give young people the opportunity to have a say in what they need from a youth centre. The panel seemed very interested by Pearl's idea.

Third contender, David Berrill, started his presentation by explaining that he was inspired by his desire to do some temporary work but was unable to find anything – so he then turned to helping his grandmother. This inspired his idea - a website on which elderly people could find young people who would be happy to be paid to do jobs around the home. David believed it could be an ideal platform for organisations such as The Prince's Trust and Age Concern to be involved in. Tessa asked an important question - how are you able to check these young people are trustworthy, as elderly people would be inviting them into their home. David put the point across that background checks would be ideal, but that people could also give ratings after jobs have been done. He also believed that this would be safer than any current set-up. The panel seemed really animated about David's idea, and it appeared that they had belief in David's idea.

Danielle Burns entered the room fourth. Her idea was to make job hunting more exciting for young people. Danielle believeed job centres are intimidating, dull and embarrassing. She explained various ideas such as 'speed job hunting', in bars and cafes, supported by applications for social networks such as Bebo and Facebook. Michelle told the panel how her 18 year old brother wouldn't go to the Job Centre because he believed it not to be cool and Jake leant support for the idea mentioning that he is a fan of speed networking. Tessa's point to Danielle was that if the employer have to work that hard to get to the employee, are these young people really motivated enough for the job. Danielle explained that she sees it as finding an alternative to having to go to the Job Centre. The panel clearly had many questions for Danielle but sadly time ran out.

Kieran Pettitt started his presentation with a friendly an