Wentworth Philpotts is just shy of 15 years old and, as a member of the local army cadet corps in Williams Lake, is showing early signs of leadership.
"It feels really rewarding," said Sergeant Philpotts about acting as Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) in this year's final parade for the local Royal Canadian Army and Sea Cadet Corps.
In the evening of June 10, 2025, Philpotts marched into the Thompson Rivers University gym with five army cadets from the 3064 Rocky Mountain Rangers corps and three sea cadets from the 202 Chilcotin corps formed up behind him for the Annual Ceremonial Review.
The cadets performed drill practices before an audience of friends, family, mentors and honoured guests, doing a march past around the parade square before being inspected by the parade's Reviewing Officer Chief Warrant Officer David Moon, RSM of the Rocky Mountain Rangers primary reserve unit.
"It always fills my heart with joy to see the youth of today in uniform," said CWO Moon in a speech following the inspection, march past and presentation of awards. "I think everybody looked great today on parade."
Joining the inspection were also Mr. Fred VanKuipers, president of the Chilcotin Branch of the Navy League of Canada, Walt Cobb, member of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 139 and former mayor of Williams Lake and Captain Tabatha Fournier, Commanding Officer (CO) of the 3064 army cadet corps.
"These people are the future for our country, so we have to bring them up right, give them every opportunity to succeed in life," said VanKuipers, explaining that the transformation he sees from young cadet to emerging leader inspires him to continue volunteering with the Navy League. "They’re (the cadets) leading the troops, they have self-confidence, they’ve learned how to work with one another, and it does your heart good when you see that sort of stuff."
Now on his third year in the cadet program, Sgt. Philpotts is one of those cadets who joined three years ago and who has grown into a leader through his time in cadets. Philpotts had to step up to be RSM for this parade, an early start in the role as Warrant Officer (WO) Adyn Roberts, who acted as Second-In-Command but who would typically lead the cadets, was unable to put the required time in leading up to this year's parade.
"You start as a young cadet and then you slowly work your way up to where I am and you could go even further," he said. Philpotts said he's had lots of fun and made many friends over the years, and he's looking forward to continuing his journey in the program.
"Cadets has really improved my life, it's given me a lot of essential learning skills, it gives you a lot of knowledge," he said, adding that he will be going to cadet camp for his third time this summer, this year for a four week expedition camp.
For some cadets, the program is an opportunity to explore their interest in the military and possibly prepare for a potential future in it.
"I'm really interested in the military or anything like that, so cadets is a great start," said Lance Corporal Hayden Dumont-Willard whose friend, WO Roberts, encouraged him to sign up.
Having only joined the program in November, this was Dumont-Willard's first time on parade but he's already taking on leading roles such as being the Right Marker which helps the rest of the cadets align themselves when in formation.
"Going into it I was feeling really nervous because I've never done this before," he said about the parade. "But, I think it went pretty well."
He said regular cadet nights over the last few months have involved lots of drill practice in preparation for the parade, but the cadets also learn about things such as orienteering and they have the option to try out marksmanship.
Dumont-Willard is not the only new addition to the cadet corps, in fact about 75 per cent of the cadets are brand new recruits. This is also Captain Fournier's first year as the CO of the 3064 Rocky Mountain Rangers.
"It's a smaller number of cadets that I had in 100 Mile so that's a little bit different but I quite enjoy it," Fournier said.
"The cadets are just amazing, they're so open to learning and to doing things and just being present in the program which is so important," she said.
Fournier herself joined cadets at 12-years-old and has never left it since.
"I went through all the ranks as a cadet and then became an officer because I loved it so much," Fournier said, adding the program brought leadership and responsibility to her life and allowed her to make friends across Canada.
"It's made me more of a people person, I was a very shy person...I don't know where I'd be without cadets to be honest."
For sea cadets, training can involve learning about sailing, knots and the phonetic alphabet, as well as practicing drill.
While he may be a sea cadet, Petty Officer Second Class (PO2) Brayden Borgfjord said he wasn't a fan of the sailing side of things, though he does like to go on ships.
"I did that two years ago...it was scary," he said.
Nevertheless, this year's parade ended on a sad note for Borgfjord whose sea cadet corps is moving to Burnaby.
"I've been a sea cadet for about three years now, going on my fourth, sadly it won't be for long...so might be moving on," Borgfjord said.
When asked what he liked about sea cadets, Borgfjord said everything about it was fun. This summer, he will be going to camp in Comox for a Ship's Boat Operator Course. He said cadet camp in Comox offers lots of opportunities for sea and air cadets, many of which he won't get to do next year.
On Wednesday, June 11, VanKuipers officially announced on the 202 Chilcotin Facebook page that the Navy League of Canada's Chilcotin Branch would dissolve, but that local sea cadets can join army cadets without losing their rank.
Several awards were presented to the cadets during the parade, announced by the parade's MC Lieutenant (N) David Frey.
The top Green Star (first year) cadet was awarded to Lance Corporal C. Laukkanen, top Red Star (second year) to Master Corporal D. Alcock, top Silver Star (third year) to Sgt. Philpotts and top Gold Star (fourth year and above) to WO Roberts.
Master Corporal McKenzie was not present during the parade, but received three awards: Best Dressed Cadet, Marksmanship Award and the Royal Canadian Legion Cadet Medal of Excellence which is granted for efforts in the area of citizenship which meet and enhance the aims and objectives of the Cadet program.
Able Cadet J. Bertenshaw was awarded Best Attendance among the sea cadets, and Sgt. Philpotts received Best Attendance among the army cadets. WO Roberts was the army cadet to be awarded the Lord Strathcona Medal for high performance in physical and military training, and PO2 Borgfjord was the sea cadet to receive the award.
Other awards included Most Improved Cadet and the Commanding Officer Achievement award.
