A grade twelve student from St Joseph’s Catholic School has earned himself a Duke of Edinburgh Award. Joshua Calkins had been working for around two years on the silver medal. He says it usually takes about a year to complete but he started his categories at different times.
“It all started when I started cadets. One of my officers introduced it when I was getting up to the age, you have to be fourteen to start. He said hey you can do this.”
To get the award, Calkins had to spend some time doing adventure, physical, service and skills activities. For the physical aspect, he chose to spend his time doing parkour. Calkins earned his adventure portion through cadet field training and for his skills, he worked on his first aid. As a volunteer, he received his service portion for his work as a first responder through his school.
“I am lost for words honestly. It feels great. It shows what can be done as one individual.”
His next goal is to go for the gold medal Duke of Edinburgh award which includes an additional category of residential activity.
Calkins plans to be a Fitness and Sports Instructor at the summer military base in Cold Lake. After that, he has plans to get his joint Psychology and Business Administration Degree at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario.
Moira McRann also received her silver honour from the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Alberta Division. She is from 
Baytree. She received the award through her work with things like the local 4-H club and participating in the National Youth Advisory Committee for the RCMP.
Both youth were recognized in Edmonton on April 28th, 2017.