Grade 6 students stand with their scholarships Friday during a ceremony that honoured 21 Hatters. Each student was awarded money from the Chief Earl Leadership Legacy Fund. The students and their families were split into groups of three to follow AHS guidelines about gatherings.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
mcranker@medicinehatnews.com@mocranker
The Medicine Hat Police Service handed out 21 scholarships to Grade 6 students Friday from the Chief Earl Legacy Fund.
The fund was created in 2008 to honour and remember police chief Gord Earl, who passed away suddenly years ago. Since then it has awarded money to 170 students locally.
“This fund is a great way to honour chief Earl and his contributions to the community,” said Sgt. Darlene Garrecht. “The fund is administered through the Community Foundation of South Eastern Alberta and it is awarded to Grade 6 students who show great leadership and live by the same core values our police force does.
“The core values are integrity, respect, accountability and courage.”
The students are picked for the awards by their teachers and peers, which adds another layer of meaning to them, says Garrecht.
Every year the MHPS hosts its open house in the summer alongside the scholarship award ceremony. Due to COVID-19, the MHPS had to cancel the open house and ask the kids to come to the station in small groups for the award ceremony.
“Usually we have this great big barbecue, but sadly that wasn’t the case this year,” she said. “We did three groups this year to make sure we followed Alberta Health Services guidelines.
“We were able to make the best of the situation we were handed this year.”
Each student was awarded $115 from the scholarship and is encouraged to put it away for future education endeavours.
“These students are young, but they show so much leadership,” said Garrecht. “We are really enjoying giving these out every year.”
