The 179 Morden Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron is winding up 2018 by celebrating the two different awards they were presented with this month.

Warrant Officer Riese Penner received the Jack and Mabel McPhedran Award for Top Rural Manitoba Air Cadet on the Advanced Aviation Course. This is the second year the McPhedran Award has been given to the Morden Squadron. In 2017, Cadet Flight Sergeant Ashlyn Kropp was the recipient.

"I watched her go up and take that award, and she went to a course that was of great interest to me. I had never been to a summer camp before," says Penner.

The camp in British Columbia is highly academic, and Penner's goal was to receive a 90 percent in every test and exam in the hopes of getting an award out there. "I got an award here which is great, and I can put that on my resume to get my pilot's license."

Penner was surprised and amazed at being named the award recipient, and is pleased that his hard work paid off.

Captain Chris Flook, Commanding Officer for the 179 Morden RCACS, says "we were shocked and we were pretty happy to see that he was recognized for this very tough course . . . he's taking his pilot exam in January so we really wish him the best of luck."

 

As well, the whole squadron won the Capt. Kenneth Young Memorial Award for the Most Proficient Rural Squadron.

"There's 24 air cadets squadrons in Manitoba, 16 of them are rural . . . and we were recognized for the activities we put on, our recruitment, what our number's like throughout the year, and just what all of our staff does," says Flook.

He adds, the group of 12-19 year olds work incredibly hard, and he is proud to see that the Air Cadet League of Manitoba recognizes the work they do in the rural region