March 18, 2010 - 8:18am
Christopher Perrier-Evely will be among 100 young British Columbians to
receive the Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold Award from Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex,
in Vancouver Friday (March 19).
Perrier-Evely
said it was exciting to find out last fall that rumours were true and a member
of the Royal Family would be coming to British Columbia to hand out the top
awards in the program that recognizes participants between 14 and 25 who reach
personal goals in areas such as community service, skills, physical recreation
and adventurous journey.
Prince
Edward, who is attending Paralympics events in Vancouver and Whistler with his wife, Sophie
Helen Rhys-Jones,
will take part in Friday’s ceremony at Point Grey Secondary School in
Vancouver.
Perrier-Evely,
19, from Campbell River, is in his second year of studies at VIU as he pursues
Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Education degrees.
With a
background of eight years in Scouting, Perrier-Evely has achieved all three
levels of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards — bronze, silver and now gold.
He earned
the first level hiking and camping on Quadra Island. The second level was
achieved by completing a 47-kilometre paddling and portaging adventure on the
Sayward forest canoe route near Campbell River. He earned gold on a five-day
trek in central Newfoundland as he retraced the trap-line once maintained by
his grandfather.
He credits
his parents Geri and Glen with helping him to achieve his goals. “My dad did
all three trips with me. My mother was the one who said, ‘keep going, keep
going.’”
He had some
added inspiration on the wilderness adventure in Newfoundland. “My grandfather
did the fur-line with us. He’s 80 and still walks five miles a day. He still
remembered the fur-lines like he was doing it 30 years before. It was really
cool. He was getting us to go faster.”
Perrier-Evely
is still making up his mind about his teaching goals. “It will be elementary or
high school. I still have three years to figure it out. I want to go and teach
abroad.”
He had
been tempted to go travelling after high school but took his mother’s advice to
get a university education first and then be able to work in foreign countries
and stay longer.
More than
36,000 young people in Canada are involved in the program under the patronage
of the Governor-General. The Duke of
Edinburgh’s Award was founded in 1956 by His Royal Highness, The Prince Philip,
Duke of Edinburgh. The Award came to Canada in 1963 and runs in 126
countries around the world. To date almost 6 million young people have
challenged themselves by participating in The Award.
“That’s
half the fun, when you get challenged,” Perrier-Evely said.
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For more information, contact: www.dukeofed.org
Tags: In the Community
