Duke of Edinburgh awards to be presented to five local youth Saturday

Stuart Matson The 1st Bolton Venturers are going to be well represented Saturday at Queen’s Park.

Five members of the group are going among 81 young people who are to receive the silver level of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award from Lt.-Gov. David Onley.

All five of them already have received their bronze level of the award, and they are hard at work on achieving gold standing.

Karen Matson is a Venturer advisor for the award program, as is Steve Vickers. She received her Gold award in her youth.

“It’s something that Scouts Canada promotes,” she said.

She added the five young people getting the award are a special group. “We call them the ‘Fab Five,’” she said.

Her son Stuart, 16, is one of the “Fab Five.”

The award program is open to youth aged 14 to 25, and challenges young people in four areas: community service, skill development, physical fitness and adventurous journey. The idea behind the program is to make youth become active, healthy and involved.

Thomas Hautot In the physical fitness category, Matson qualified on the defensive line for the Mayfield Secondary School football team, as well as doing a personal fitness program, complete with weight training. For his community service requirements, he has helped out at church fundraisers. That has included playing the trumpet and violin at functions at Bolton United Church. He said he’s also performed at Christ Church in Bolton and Palgrave United Church. He’s also helped with the Scouting program at the Dorchester International Brotherhood Camp (DIBC) near London. “It’s a fantastic camp,” he commented.

As well, Matson has pitched in the with the Albion and Bolton Agricultural Society on the annual Fall Fair and Tractor Pull.

Beatrice Imrie For an expedition, he and his fellow Venturers went on a canoe trip to Algonquin Park Thanksgiving weekend 2008.

“I think it was something like a 50-K trip when we measured it all out,” he said. “There were some cold nights, but then again, it was fantastic weather for canoe tripping.”

Matson used his violin playing for the skill requirement. He said he’s been playing for 14 years, although he added the time demands on a Grade 12 student have forced him to set that aside.

He said he’s hoping to complete the requirements for the gold award before the end of the current school year, although he’s had to put the physical activity work on hold, owing to a broken hand.

“I felt it was a good thing to do,” he said, explaining how he got involved in the program. “Excellent thing for youth who would like a challenge in life.”

Sean Strong “It will make me a better person in the long run,” he added.

Bolton resident Thomas Hautot, 16, said he completed his community service requirements with a variety of activities, including volunteering with a Beaver colony and helping out at DIBC.

For his physical activity, he said he used his crosscountry running and skiing. “That’s the fun part,” he said.

Although he lives in an urban area, Hautot completed the skill requirements by showing cows. He said Matson got him interested in it a couple of years ago, while he was working on a badge for Scouts. “I jut liked it and kept doing it,” he said.

He said it was Mrs. Matson who got them interested in the program when she described how she got her gold award. “We decided to give it a try and we liked it,” he said.

Diana Newell He added the best part of the program is it helped him stay active.

“I like to be an active guy,” he said. “I find if I sit around here too long, I tend to get bored.”

“It’s a good social activity,” he added.

Palgrave resident Beatrice Imrie said she got into the program through the Matsons, and decided to join Venturers as a result. She also checked out the requirements of the program.

“It looked like the stuff I already did and stuff I like to do,” she observed.

For her community service component, Imrie said she’s “been doing lots of stuff.”

That has included volunteering at Palgrave United Church, teaching swimming and working with some of her classmates at Mayfield Secondary School on a mural at Forster’s Book Garden in Bolton.

She cited her piano and swimming in the skill category, and for physical activities, she said she listed walking, biking and hiking, along with the fact took bellydancing lessons while in Girl Guides.

“It’s a really good experience to have to commit to all that activity,” she said. “It branches you out.”

Also due to receiver her silver award Saturday is Diana Newell, a resident of Caledon East who is in Grade 12 at The Country Day School, near King City.

She was part of the canoe trip to Algonquin Park.

For her service requirements, Newell, 17, was able to use her contributions teaching Sunday school at St. Mark’s Anglican Church in Orangeville, as well as volunteering as a Beaver leader.

Her physical activities included karate and swimming. Her interest in music helped her fulfill the skill requirements. She’s in the choir at school, while playing clarinet in the school’s wind ensemble and tenor sax in the jazz band.

Newell agreed her involvement in the program has been a benefit.

“I have kept myself more on a schedule,” she said, adding it has seen her doing things she would not have thought of a couple of years ago. She also said it’s pushed her to better herself.

“It’s just been so fulfilling,” she added.

Nobleton resident Sean Strong, 17, is a Grade 12 student at King City Secondary School.

“Scouts played a major role in my service,” he said. His contributions included taking part in the Remembrance Day service and parade in Bolton, along with helping a friend who was making a movie, helping to set up a Cub Car Rally, picking up garbage at Albion Hills and helping out at camps.

“I got all my volunteer hours for school in conjunction with this,” he observed.

His fondness for drama and acting came in handy in the skill category, with work in extra-curricular performances at KCSS.

The physical component was met with his involvement in hockey, curling and running.

“It was a lot of hard work,” he said, but added the experience was worthwhile. “It builds skills.”

“The moment I finished working on the bronze, I started working on the silver,” he commented, adding he’s already working on the gold.

The program was founded by Prince Philip to encourage personal development and community involvement for young people. Since its establishment in Canada in 1963, more than 350,000 young Canadians have taken the challenge.