WHILE many girls her age list their passions as make-up, mobile phones and Justin Bieber, Emma Farrington is on a mission to teach others how to save lives.

The 15-year-old, who is a pupil at King Alfred’s Academy in Wantage, has just seen off six other contenders to win the coveted title of Oxfordshire’s St John Ambulance Cadet of the Year 2012.

She said: “Being the Cadet of the Year is a great opportunity and will be great for my career too. I will get to meet a lot of people this year and most importantly I will be able to spread the word about how easy and important it is to learn first aid.”

Others who were recognised were Hollie Hemmings, 15, from Banbury Cadets, who was named Deputy County Cadet of the Year 2012 Volunteers aged between five and 10 are known as Badgers.

County Badger of the Year was Annabel Moore, nine, from Thame Badgers, and Deputy County Badger of the Year was handed to Ellee Pettifer, eight, from Kidlington Badgers.

Emma, from Faringdon, has been a cadet with St John for two-and-half years, She won her award after a tough ‘development’ weekend in Headington in September, in which she and the other candidates completed back-to-back challenges.

Among the tasks she had to give a five-minute presentation on how St John Ambulance could be represented in the media, a topic for which she had only 30 minutes to prepare.

She was also filmed making a news broadcast and her first aid skills were examined.

She said: “It was pretty stressful, but I also enjoyed it. I didn’t think I had actually done that well, so I was really surprised when I won.”

As Cadet of the Year, Emma’s primary role will be to encourage more young people to learn first aid.

She will also be ‘the face’ of the cadet force for the next 12 months, representing the county at official functions, perhaps even meeting royalty.

Emma will be fitting her duties in around studying for her GCSEs, but believes her time with St John Ambulance will help her achieve a career as a surgeon.

She said: “Learning first aid is obviously an important part of studying medicine and one day I hope to become a surgeon.”

And there is more time in the spotlight this month when she competes in the National Cadet of the Year selection weekend, in Wiltshire from January 27-29, where cadets will go head to head to be chosen as the top cadet in the country.

Joanne Gardner, County Principal Youth Officer, said: “Emma is a great example of a dedicated volunteer who truly believes in the difference that first aid can make to saving someone’s life.”

  • Anyone interested in joining St John Ambulance or finding out more about first aid training should call 01865 309532 or visit its Oxfordshire website by clicking on the link below.