A Fergus student is among 130 youths nominated for this year’s Ontario Community Newspaper Association (OCNA) Junior Citizen of the Year awards.
Seventeen-year-old Heather Hattle has been in Girl Guides since she was 10 years old.
After reaching the Ranger level, she now volunteers her time as a junior leader with the Pathfinders in Elora. She was nominated by her Guide leader Clare Douglas.
“Over the three years that I’ve known Heather, I have watched her grow in her leadership abilities. She is flexible when she needs to be and is always eager to step in,” Douglas wrote in her nomination.
“Heather was first invited into Girl Guides by a friend, but since then she stays because she honestly enjoys it. I think she has seen the good it has done her and that inspires her to want to pay it forward and give to the younger girls she volunteers with.”
Hattle says she decided to continue on to the Ranger level partly to stay connected with friends after moving from Guelph to Fergus and because it gave her a feeling of accomplishment.
“I just felt like I could be doing something more than just school, home and watching TV,” she said.
Becoming a Guide leader herself has also been a rewarding experience – an opportunity to build leadership skills and help others achieve their goals.
“It’s fun to see [the girls] growing into adults who are going to do stuff with their lives,” she says. “Just seeing them be so amazed by stuff for the first time – things that I learned a while ago.”
Although she has already completed the requirements for the highest award in Guides, Hattle continues to build on her Guiding experience, working to completing all 240 challenges in the Ranger program book. She hopes to have those completed by August.
To receive the Chief Commissioner Award, Hattle spearheaded a donation to the Girl Guides’ Sangram Bracelet program in India, an initiative that encourages girls to send messages of friendship to others. Hattle herself made 50 of the 100 bracelets donated by her unit.
“Now they don’t know where to store them all because they got way more than they expected,” she said with a laugh. “My unit sent over 100 but a lot of people sent them way more so they were definitely overloaded.”
Outside of Guides, Hattle participates in her school’s trivia and Free the Children Clubs once a week and has a part time job at Target in Fergus. In the fall, she plans to attend university, pursuing a degree in English and library science.
OCNA officials say every community has young stars and while they may not quite have celebrity status, they deserve to be in the spotlight for all they have accomplished.
“These young people represent a diverse group ranging in age, interests and backgrounds – but one thing they all share is their desire to make a difference, both locally and globally,” said Gordon Cameron, president of OCNA.
Youth aged six to 17 were nominated across Ontario and all were recognized with certificates by their local community Newspapers. Individuals nominated go “above and beyond what is expected of someone their age,” OCNA officials stated in a press release.
