It wasnt all sun, sand and sea for some hard-working Richmond teenagers this summer.
Many local youth were busy at respective armed forces summer camps, with three in particular sailing through the ranks with flying colours.
And two of them, flight sergeants Allison Lee and Emily Poon are B.C.s newest pilots.
Lee received her Cadet Glider Wings, while Poon received her Air Cadet Pilot Wings, both from the Regional Gliding School (Pacific) in Comox.
Lee and Poon are members of 692 BCIT Aerospace Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron.
Lee was one out of 36 air cadets from across B.C. that spent six weeks learning to fly the Schweizer 2-33A glider, achieving her Transport Canada Glider Pilot License. Poon spent seven weeks learning to fly a Cessna 172 to Transport Canadas Private Pilot license standards out of the Victoria Flying Club.
These young men and women have worked very hard this summer to become licensed pilots and we are all very proud of their accomplishments, said Lt. Col. Tony Appels, commanding officer of RGS (Pacific).
This is a very dedicated group of young adults who are going to make their own special mark on this country; it may be as a future Prime Minister, an airline pilot or by simply being a better Canadian.
Meanwhile, cadet Christy Chow received the award as top cadet in 14 Platoon of the General Military Training Course at the final parade at Vernon Army Cadet Summer Training Centre.
Chow, a member of 2947 Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps in Richmond, and 150 other army cadets participated in the Army Cadet General Military Training Course, which sees the cadets introduced to communal living, participate in an overnight field training exercise and, among other things, improve their accuracy with the air rifle.
