An Eventful Adventurous Journey, Lydia’s Award Story

Legacy Award Participant  

“I have grown up with all three of my older siblings completing the Duke of Edinburgh Award, and I have been involved in their Adventurous Journeys for a while now. I signed up for the Award with the goal to follow in my siblings’ footsteps as they had all enjoyed completing their awards and I hoped to find the same feeling of accomplishment.  

Starting the Award 

I signed up for the award just as my siblings had done. Once I got actively involved with the Award, I began to realize that I wasn’t just following in my siblings’ footsteps anymore, but I was also pursuing the challenges that were brought along with participating in the Award. I have been challenged in many ways through my bronze and silver levels. I have learned how to adapt in the outdoors and go without a shower for four days in a row on my Adventurous Journey to learning how to run a sound system while volunteering at church.  

Adventurous Journey Canoe Trip  

One major instance of how the Award has taught me to persevere through challenging circumstances is through a canoe trip that I went on for an Adventurous Journey. For this Journey, we had chosen to go on a multi-night canoe trip on Murtle Lake, B.C. This was my family’s first time doing a multi-night canoe trip ever, so we packed up our canoes after doing a lot of research and started the portage to the lake. To start, we drive a few hours to get the starting point. The next day started out early as we had quite a distance to paddle. When we got back out onto the lake after lunch the wind was starting to pick up. After paddling for about an hour and a half after lunch, a fierce headwind had developed, and it started to rain. It was an exhausting paddle to our campsite that night, everyone was cold and tired, so we set up camp, made supper, and headed to bed. The next day was about the same story, calm in the morning and stormy in the afternoon. When we got to camp that day, we set up our tents, cooked supper, had a campfire and went to bed. That night, my sister developed a cough and wasn’t feeling good. The next day we paddled back towards the trailhead and set up camp a few kilometers away from it. My sister’s cough had worsened throughout the day. That evening, she had a fever and a serious cough. The next morning, we paddled over to the trailhead before starting out on the 2.5km portage to our vehicle. When we arrived at the trailhead, my sister seemed pretty sick. My parents and I devised a plan to put all of our supplies in one canoe that they would wheel out on a cart, and I would wheel the other empty canoe on a cart for the 2.5km so that my sister could focus on walking out without having to push a heavy canoe. We made it back to our vehicle alright and drove home that day. When we got back to town, my mom and sister decided to go to the hospital that night. The doctor diagnosed her with double pneumonia. Through this challenging experience, I learned to adapt to different circumstances and push myself more.  

The Duke of Edinburgh Award has really helped me to try new things, push past self-conceived limits, help in my community more and stay committed to tasks throughout many different circumstances. I’ve not only found that same feeling of accomplishment as my siblings did, but so much more.”  

• Lydia Kadatz 

We are excited as Lydia goes with the Award and her continued accomplishments.   

Thank you to Lydia for sharing your story, we hope it inspires you to Join the Award, Volunteer with the Award, or Become an Award Centre.  

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