Whitworth High’s Khalisa is top student on army challenge

Khalisa Ahmed joins the army on the Etihad Challenge in Scotland

Teenager Khalisa Ahmed joined the army for a three-day challenge and despite being one of the youngest participants, was picked as the top student.

The 15-year-old, from Whitworth Community High School, was one of hundreds who applied for the Etihad Challenge at Army’s Castlelaw Training Area, Penicuik, near Edinburgh at the end of September.

Just 25 students, aged 14 to 25, were picked for places and Khalisa and her cousin, Inayah Islam, 16, from Hemel Hempstead, managed to get two of them.

She said: “We were put into groups and there were lots of team building activities, leadership challenges and problem solving. This was something completely new to me.”

They learnt life saving skills in a pool with the Royal Air Force. The students learnt about communication and how to understand codes and they were also taught how to judge distances.

She added: “We had to solve a crime by asking ‘suspects’ questions to find out more about what had happened.”

When the teams were asked to make a tent out of a camouflage tarpaulin, only Khalisa and Inayah managed to spend the whole night outside.

Khalisa said: “I had lots of layers on and was warm, so I slept right through and had to be woken up the next day.

“I don’t want to go into the army; I want to be a graphic designer. I am from Whitworth but in 2011 my family moved to live in Abu Dhabi and we returned in 2018 which is when I joined Whitworth High School.

“Going on this challenge has really boosted my confidence. I didn’t know what to expect but my parents said I should give it my best effort. When it came to the awards and I was named as top student I didn’t expect it at all.

The Etihad Challenge is a programme to help engage youngsters from the Muslim community with the work done by the armed forces.