Year 11 students Emma Cullen and Freya Dew recently returned to Sale High from once-in-a-lifetime trips around the world.

The girls, both keen sportswomen, became interested in radio while broadcasting on the school’s radio station SHS Soundzzz earlier this year. Their English teacher suggested they go on a course run by radiowaves.co.uk, which promotes the skills of radio reporting for young people and includes a sports arm S2R, or Supporter to Reporter.

Travelling as part of a team of student reporters supported by mentors from the website, Emma was away for three weeks at the Mini Pacific Games on the Cook Islands, filing reports on the results, the athletes and the amazing culture of the islands.

Emma was recruited for the Cook Islands trip through a competition on radiowaves for a video blog and was part of a group of eight students from the UK who travelled as accredited reporters on the trip to the Mini Pacific Games. One of the events in the run-up to 2012, it was a fantastic opportunity to watch and meet some of the young Oceanic athletes of the future.

Emma’s blog on the Radiowaves website describes one of many highlights of the trip: “Wow - it's the only word that comes close to describing the opportunity we experienced. From the journalist's point of view, my favourite moment was with lively Fiji team on the bus when they burst into song: the entire bus was shaking!”

Freya also had to beat off stiff competition to win her place but she has followed in Emma’s globetrotting footsteps, travelling with another team of budding reporters to Montreal, home of the 1976 Summer Olympic Games. There she interviewed Stephane Prefontaine, the athlete who carried out the Olympic torch on its final leg at those games, and made several video reports on Olympics past and future.

Both girls are now back at school catching up with their all-important school work, but they have a host of amazing memories and experiences to remember for the rest of their lives. Their blogs and diaries can be found on the radiowaves website.