ARTICLE FROM THE SUBURBAN, WEDNESDAY 19 AUGUST 2015, written by P.A. Sevigny
It’s always a good day when you’re a 16- year-old army cadet and the commander of the Canadian Armed Forces calls you out of your parade line in order to give you the army’s top prize for being an outstanding cadet. While it might sound like a scene picked out of an army recruitment video, that’s exactly what happened to Montreal’s 16-year-old Ioana Hanganu when she received the (Lieutenant) General J.E. Vance award for being the year’s outstanding cadet from Canadian Army Commander Lt. General Marquis Haines. According to the Forces , Hanganu is, “a motivated cadet who demonstrated the exceptional bearing, motivation and leadership skills that singled her out for the award among the 248 other cadets who participated in this year’s summer cadet program.” “It was an amazing experience,” said Hanganu. “You get chances and opportunities that you could never find anywhere else. While I learned a lot and made a lot of friends, I also found the strength and confidence that I needed to face up to all the challenges that were part of the army’s cadet program.”
As a member of Westmount’s Royal Montreal Regiment’s cadet program, it was the second year that Hanganu took part in the regiment’s cadet training program. Although she was chosen to be among the final list for the General Vance prize during her first year, she told The Suburban that she never lost sight of her objective and that winning the prize means a lot to her and her future. As a ‘Sec’ 5 student at the Pierre Laporte Secondary School, she is already in a enriched science, math and literature program and she is already thinking about what she’s going to do in CEGEP before making a final decision about university. “I am definitely thinking about going to the St. Jean CEGEP (St. Jean de Richelieu) because it would be a good place to prepare myself for Military College at St. Jean or at Kingston,” she said.
During an extensive telephone interview, Hanganu told The Suburban that the cadet program is a blessing for anybody who is even remotely interested in outdoor sports. Aside from field-hikes and mountain bikes, she described the program as an excellent way to test your own limits in order to see how far and how much you can do by yourself and amid the company of your peers. Based upon this summer’s experience, Hanganu now wants to go back in order to become one of the cadet program’s councillors because it’s a paying job and she believes that she has a lot of experience to pass on to younger cadets. When asked about a possible career in the nation’s armed forces, she answered that she was thinking about it because she has already had a glimpse at military life and she both likes it and understands its value — especially for young people who are always looking out for a challenge. But as for now, Hanganu also mentioned that she’s getting ready for a new school year although she is also thinking of looking into the Beaverbrook Scholarship program because she would very much like to visit the sites where young Canadians fought and died for their country.
http://www.thesuburban.com/
Master-Corporal Daniella Carbert (CC2862 RMR Westmount) top Army Cadet EMCRE (Summer Music Camp) 2015
Congratulations to both Cadets for setting such a high standard of excellence, bravo!
Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense.