Youth gets bronze Duke of Edinburgh's Award

An Olds youth has received the Duke of Edinburgh's Award bronze standard.

Zachary Taylor, 14, a member of the 185 Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron in Olds, received that certificate after fulfilling the requirements over a six-month period for service to the community, skills, physical recreation and embarking on an adventurous journey.

For the service to the community requirement, Zach did a variety of things. With cadets, he participated in a poppy blitz, picked up garbage in the community and along the highway and volunteered at a car show.

He also helped around the house doing things like yardwork.

For the skills portion, he played guitar.

For the physical fitness requirment, Taylor participated in activities such as hiking, biking and canoeing. He also joined a gym.

The adventurous journey involved hiking in Kananaskis Country and sleeping overnight. During the journey, Zach's mom, Carole, says he learned about how to survive in the woods.

"I'm very proud of Zach for making this six-month commitment and inspired by his determination to finish what he started," Carole says. "I'm grateful to the Olds Cadet Squadron for all the learning opportunities that they are offering my son."

Zach is pretty pleased too.

"It's definitely a very good accomplishment. I'm very happy to get it, that's for sure," he says. "For me it's kind of a symbol of determination and the effort I put forth into this."

When interviewed, Zach had not yet decided if he wanted to go for a silver or gold medal.

Zach has been in cadets for about a year and has reached the rank of Leading Air Cadet 2.

He says he doesn't plan to go into the military, but would like to use the skills he's learned in air cadets to eventually get a private pilot's licence and to obtain scholarships in music via the cadet band program.

"I play multiple instruments, including guitar, trombone, bass and a little bit of piano and a tiny amount of clarinet; you know, just a little bit here and there," he says.