Young jasperite earns Duke of Edinburgh award 

For Jessica Alleyne, a 21-year-old Jasperite, achieving the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award - the Young Canadian Challenge - wasn’t such a big deal.

Despite having completed the challenge in 2007, Alleyene waited patiently for two years to receive the actual certificate. She was one of 130 achievers who recently received the certificate and a commemorative pin from the Earl of Wessex at the Fairmont Waterfront in Vancouver.

“Everybody asks ‘did you get money for it? Why’d you do it?’” Alleyne said, noting that other than her certificate and pin, it was more about personal satisfaction than anything else

“But it’s really just a thing to do for yourself, it’s personally rewarding to do the challenge and stuff,” she said adding that meeting the Earl and listening to his speech at the reception was also a reward in itself. 

“That was exciting too,” she said, “ I was hoping to meet the Queen, but it was really cool seeing the Earl of Wessex because he’s done it.” 

Growing up in Jasper, the 21-year-old wasn’t a member of Girl Guides - as many winners are - but had heard about the award through some friends and decided to take on the challenge.

“I just did it by myself,” she explained, “at the ceremony most of the people were either Girl Guides or Cadets or Scouts and a few individual people. I never thought about it being any different, but when you hear other people talking ‘it must have been so hard by yourself’. I was sort of like, ‘Oh, I didn’t even notice.’ “

The Gold component of the award requires young adults to complete five different sections that are tracked and graded by mentors: community service, personal skill development, physical recreation, adventure journey, and a residential project.

For the young Jasperite, the hardest part was keeping track of all five components concurrently. “It’s a lot of keeping track of stuff and doing lots of different parts and doing them all at once,” Alleyne said. “It’s not just volunteering. It’s volunteering and physical recreation and a skill and then planning the expedition.” 

Regardless of this challenge, Alleyne easily completed the components. Community service was already a huge part of Alleyne’s life, working closely with HIV West Yellowhead in Jasper, but the challenge helped her to get serious about her involvement with the organization. “It got me started with volunteering more seriously,” she said, noting that at 21, she is probably one of the youngest directors the organization has ever had.

The challenge also asks participants to take on new challenges for the award, which is what Alleyne did when she began running.

Inspired by her mother, Alleyne took up running to complete the physical recreation component which required her to run about 40 minutes a week. 

“It was something that my mom used to always do... she was my assessor and she did it with me,” she said, adding that “it was something I could do by myself and have control over how often I did it and stuff - I really enjoy it... it’s taking a break and helps me to relax and de-stress,” she said. 

Growing up in Jasper lent itself to easily completing the adventurous journey component of the award - whereby Alleyne took her brother and his friend on a five-day backpacking trip on the Brazeau Loop. 

For the award, she had to set out the meal plans, organize the days and make sure the trio kept on track throughout the expedition. Alleyne said the hardest part was dealing with the giggling boys as she tried to organize their days. “They made fun of me, because it was my brother and friend,” she said, “it was mostly hiking, so I mean, you hike and you hike.”

In preparation, the Jasperite did two practice journeys: the Saturday Night Loop and Wilcox Pass. 

Obviously talented, Alleyne decided to improve her piano skills for the personal skill development section of the award. She continues to improve and has just completed Grade 4 in the Royal Conservatory. 

The fifth component, which only applies to the Gold award, is the residential project. While the award requires a four-day project, Alleyne did six weeks in Montreal - working at a day camp and taking trips each weekend, where she spent the majority of her time with new people.

“It was lots of fun and I lived with a family who was bilingual - so that made it easier, though I didn’t learn as much French as I could have,” she said, noting that she only knew one other person on the six-week exchange.