Jaden Musselman, a Grade 12 student from Quesnel, won the local BC Hydro Power Pioneers Award for Community Service. She was presented with the award by the president of the local branch, Roger North, on Tuesday (May 29) at the River Rock Pub.
The award includes a $500 scholarship and a book about BC Hydro, titled Voices from Two Rivers: Harnessing the Power of the Peace and the Columbia.
“I’m super excited,” says Musselman, who won the award for her volunteer work as a junior firefighter, with Big Brothers and Sisters, as a ringette coach and as a junior volunteer at the hospital.
She says the award will help her pay for nursing school at the College of New Caledonia in Quesnel, which she plans to attend in the fall. From there, Musselman plans to take the MCAT and go to medical school.
Rae Daggitt is the community achievement award co-ordinator for the local branch. He says it’s difficult to choose who should get the award.
“When you see these kids, you think each one of them deserves an award. But you’ve got to pick one.”
He says the number of applicants to the award were down this year, in part because of a change in criteria and in part because the award was announced later in the year than usual.
Daggitt hopes that next years award will see an increase in applicants.