The Cadet Corps is growing in Cochrane thanks to the passion shown by leadership.

Kara Hughes and Lt. Don Richards were both recognized in late February for their dedication, hard work, and commitment to growing the cadet program not only in Cochrane but province wide.

For the second time, Hughes was presented the prestigious Colonel Lee S Thompson Award for her extraordinary efforts of furthering the army cadet movement, while Lt. Richards was presented the Honour Officer Award to recognize an officer for the innovative and exemplary involvement with cadets and the cadet program.

Hughes has been involved in her current Cadet position for the past three years and says there are lifelong benefits for those involved in the cadet program.

"The leadership and that confidence that they get. To see someone that can now stand up and face his fellow cadets as a leader and they can work as team to figure out how to solve a problem. There is absolutely no mandate that you must join the Forces, yes, they do teach you the history of the Armed Forces, but I think that is something we should all be taught...there is pride in our country."

Both Hughes and Richards were humbled to be recognized for their work; Hughes, shares her nomination was a surprise.

"It was a complete surprise to me, it is quite an honour. We have lots of cadet volunteers not only in our corps but throughout the entire province of Alberta thousands of cadets and thousands of volunteers; so this is a huge, huge honour for me."

Lt. Richards shares many of the same sentiments, saying they honour one officer out of each of three zones in Alberta and he was this year's lucky recipient.

"It was actually a huge honour to be recognized and obviously something I wasn't expecting and everyone did a pretty good job of surprising me with it, I had no idea it was even something that had been applied for. I work with some pretty good people, they make coming into work with Cadets really enjoyable and something I look forward to each and every week. I am super honoured my colleagues thought that much about me."

Richards looks forward to the continued success and growth of the Cadet program in Cochrane.

"We have had fantastic growth the last couple of years and I would like to see that continue as we get more and more involved in some of the wider activities in the area. I suspect we will grow and keep succeeding."

Another winner noted was Cochrane Warrant Officer Kieran Hughes; Hughes received the Captain Chris Gerbrandt award for his submitted photography and was named Top Senior Cadet Photographer for  the Province of Alberta.