Award winners are role models for youth

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In the major media – daily papers, radio, and television- we all too often hear about young people in trouble, involved with the law, drifting, lost.

This past weekend, weekly newspaper publishers from Saskatchewan, and the public, received a very different view of our youth when the Saskatchewan Weekly Newspapers Association, with its fellow sponsor SaskPower, put on the 22nd annual Junior Citizen of the Year awards banquet.

Over the years, more than 130 young people from all corners of Saskatchewan have been honored as Junior Citizens of the Year.

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This year’s award winners were:

Bonita Brick, Netherhill, active in the Scout movement, in her school and in her community. Her advice is do what you enjoy and don’t worry about what others think. She is a first-year student at the University of Saskatchewan, studying and examining her career options.
Destiny Diehl, Watrous, bronze medalist at the 1998 Canadian Senior Judo Championships, silver medalist at the Canadian Juvenile/Junior Judo Championships, a pre-law student who plans to be a crown prosecutor, then a judge.

Jennifer Deyenberg, Biggar, survivor of a serious car accident who didn’t let her injuries deter her from an active school and community life and who entered the University of Alberta this fall with two academic scholarships and a third scholarship which recognizes leadership abilities.
Ethan Martorana, Regina, who played a crucial role in his younger sister’s cancer recovery and who has gone on to work with a program for children with cancer and their siblings.
Kendra Meier, Leader, at 12 the youngest of this year’s Junior Citizens, a survivor who lost part of a leg to cancer and who exhibits wisdom and maturity beyond her years.

Her willingness to talk openly about cancer and her amputation has been a source of inspiration to others.

Patrick Moore, Moose Jaw, a first-year education student at the University of Regina who carries on with an action-packed life and devotes considerable energy to helping others despite treatment within the past year for cancer.

Saskatchewan’s Lieutenant Governor John Wiebe called the accomplishments of these young people “staggering, especially considering their average age is 16.”