Pride and gratitude on display at Queen Elizabeth cadets annual review
By Craig Westcott
The annual inspection and review of the 2562 Queen Elizabeth High School Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps was a bittersweet affair this year with some familiar faces finishing up with the squad, including its Commanding Officer, Capt. Stephanie Wold, and Chief Warrant Officer Emma Stafford.
Lieutenant-Colonel Donald Currie, the commanding officer of 37 Signal Regiment, St. John’s, served as the reviewing officer. Like Wold, Currie started his military career as a youth in the cadet movement.
Capt. Wold, started her military journey as an army cadet in 1991, participating in band and biathalon programs and later serving as an officer and instructor with various army cadets corps. She has a bachelor of arts with a double major in criminology and sociology, as well as a masters in public administration. She took over as commanding officer of the Queen Elizabeth corps in 2022.
Wold was presented with a number of gifts and tokens of appreciation from the cadets, including a heartfelt speech by CWO Stafford, who is finishing up with the corps after five years as she graduates high school. Staff won a number of awards this year, including Top Cadet.
Wold is being succeeded as commanding officer by Navy Lieutenant Tanya Kane.
One highlight of the event was a speech by Sgt. Brook White, 16, who spoke about her experience of being a cadet. White serves as a cadet correspondent with the corps, helping with public affairs and training.
“I’ve been going to cadets every Wednesday night since 2021,” said White. “With additional training that adds up to over 100 times I’ve chosen to show up. Each time, I’m faced with a choice, and each time I choose you (the corps). I’ve put on this green uniform over 100 times and each time I do, it’s a promise to keep going. That’s not just math – that’s commitment. But commitment doesn’t just come from anywhere. For me it came long before I ever wore a uniform.”
White said she saw what commitment meant when she watched her older sister, Sydney White, participate in the cadets.
“I remember seeing her in her uniform for the first time,” said White. “She stood tall and exuded a feeling of dedication. I watched her glow. That wasn’t my sister. That was someone completely different, but in the best way possible. She wore her pride on her chest and in that moment I felt it too… Little did I know in a short couple of years I’d be in the same green uniform marching to the same old drum carrying the same pride I once looked up to. That’s the amazing thing about the cadet program; you put on the uniform and you have the freedom to change into somebody else for just a couple of hours… You are an army cadet. You have purpose, you have drive, you have responsibility to the people that surround you, the officers that support you. Cadets teaches you things whether you’re in the classroom or not. I’ve built my confidence through the cadet program… I’ve learned responsibility and what it really means to have people depend on you.”
White too thanked Wold for her caring leadership style which was there for all the cadets through their every stumble, step and victory.
“She believed in us when we weren’t sure that we believed in ourselves,” said White. “She has given this unit her time, her effort, and her care. Even though she is leaving us this year, the impact she’s made is not going anywhere – it stays with us.”
Other highlights of the review, which was held at Branch 50 of the Royal Canadian Legion in Kelligrews, was a performance by the cadet band, which played Sweet Child of Mine by Guns n Roses, Kryptonite by Three Doors Down, and Black Sabbath’s Iron Man.
Master Corporal Rachel Sceviour and Master Corporal Mckenna King gave a history of the corps, noting that it formed in March 1955 and became affiliated with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment later that same year. The initial sponsor was the Conception Bay South School Board. In 1999, Branch 50 of the Royal Canadian Legion became the official sponsor. Girls were allowed to join the corps for the first time in September of 1975.
“Throughout the corps’ history there have been many significant events,” said Sceviour. “The major highlight is the corps’ excellent shooting program which began in 1959. The corps has had many cadets attend the National Shooting Camp in Connaught, Ottawa, several of which went on to Bisley, England.”
Past shooting teams from Queen Elizabeth have placed as high as third in Canada, Sceviour added. “Over the past year, many capable cadets have been working very hard to form our five-person shooting team,” she noted. “This year our team competed at the zones level taking third place, and then moved onto the provincial level where they impressed with taking fourth place.”