Over the last two years, Clinton Rodney has taken on a challenge that will be a great addition to his resume.
While managing his education, schoolwork and extra-curricular activities with the Ponoka Air Cadets, Rodney has been putting in extra hours to complete tasks that earned him a much-deserved silver level Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.
Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Donald S. Ethell presented the award to Rodney at Government House in Edmonton on Friday, April 25.
Rodney is a member of the 65 Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron and this award will make a great addition to his bucket list. His next goal is to become a medical officer with the Canadian forces, and his application for post-secondary education to be able to get that position will be greatly helped by this award.
Rodney had to complete specific tasks, with a certain number of hours per challenge to receive the award:
• Service by connecting with the community.
• Skills: Rodney needed to improve a specific skill or set a new one for himself.
• Adventurous journey is meant as a means of getting outdoors and exploring.
• Physical fitness to keep with a healthy lifestyle.
• Residential project (gold): Only available for the gold award, participants need to spend five days and four nights away from home on an activity shared with people never met before.
Rodney said many of the challenges were activities he was already doing. “I like to be well-rounded and I found I was already doing a number of the items required.”
Air rifle marksmanship is an area that Rodney has some strength. He saw this as a means to develop his skill set. He says that hard work has paid off with two trips to national competitions and he also represented the Ponoka Air Cadets in a biathlon challenge of skiing and marksmanship.
Travelling is something he has always wanted to do and Rodney feels being a medical officer is the perfect opportunity to see the world. Learning under the Medical Officer Training Plan will help pay for his education.
“I like the idea of helping people and doing aid missions,” explained Rodney.
Rodney says he is already working on completing his gold level award.
The award recognizes young people aged between 14 and 24 for their efforts aimed at supporting the community and improving their personal skill-set. In 2013, a total of 11,502 young Canadians got involved in the program.
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award was founded in 1956 by Prince Philip and was launched in Canada in 1963 for young Canadians between the ages of 14 to 24.