CCH graduate recipient of Golden Jubilee Award for work in community
By Nicholas Allen - for the Lethbridge Herald on May 31, 2022.
A local high school graduate has earned one of the province’s top honours for his work in the community.The Golden Jubilee Citizenship award honours students who have shown themselves to be community builders and leaders, civically minded, passionate about volunteering and who whole-heartedly embrace the spirit of their cause. Each year, eight young Albertans receive a medal and a $5,000 scholarship.
Catholic Central High School graduate Josh Kroker won the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Citizenship Medal Award this year along with several other recipients across Alberta
“It’s such a privilege to win for all the work I did for my community service and with my community engagement,” said Kroker. “It’s just been an absolute honour.”
He said that all the recipients were different and had something interesting to give, which he believes is why they were all chosen. Kroker also identified how each person who engaged with the community was unique.
“It was actually really exciting to see the diversity that each of us brought and what it really meant to win that gold medal,” he said.
Kroker is studying Public Policy and Governance at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia and was a member of various school clubs throughout his time at Catholic Central High School. Kroker said he began to pursue his interests from a young age.
“I’ve always been interested in public policy,” said Kroker. “When I was 13, I wrote a set of reform proposals and I sent it to premiers and politicians across the country and I got amazing responses and it just kept me going.”
He thanked everyone who gave him the opportunity to use his ideas and those who gave him the confidence to push forward on his chosen path. A path that Kroker said he wants to always follow as a member of the community.
“I will continue to serve my community. I’ll continue to push and find that purpose for others, because the more we can engage the youth and the more we can have ideas that are from [the low-level of organizations], that’s how we all succeed,” said Kroker. “I always want to be a community leader.”
Kroker explained how he wants to give as many people the same chance that he was given which allowed him to succeed and ultimately win the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Citizenship Medal Award.
“I want to make sure I keep giving [youth] the same opportunities I had, and I think that’s the next idea is that we just keep paying it forward,” said Kroker.
Lt.-Gov. Salma Lakhani presented the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Awards to the eight young Albertans for their excellence in leadership and the arts.
“These are…well-deserving Albertans who champion diversity, drive positive and lasting change and have achieved meaningful action in their areas of passion and interest,” said Lakhani in a media release. “Recipients of the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Award energize the people around them and actively seek to impact their communities for the better.”
The Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Award was established in 2002 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ascension of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to the throne. Since then, 153 individuals have received the citizenship award and 39 have received the arts award.
The Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Recognition Act will establish the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Awards when it comes into force. These awards will replace the Golden Jubilee Awards next year in recognition of the 70 years of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign.
For more information on this award visit the Government of Alberta website. 2
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