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t J durhamrcgion.com THE CANADIAN STATESMAN ♦ June 7, 2006 * Page A5 A Clarington Community A weekly in-depth look .. at the communities that shape Clarington >'• f "■ ••• / - y Local student takes home top Scouting honour Only two per cent earn Chief Scout's Award BY JULIAN FOLLERT Staff Writer COURTICE -- Josh I-Iilz is a busy guy. When he's not shovelling snow and cutting grass for neighbours, the 14- year-old student from Holy Trinity CHS is baby-sitting, doing his paper route, umpiring at local baseball diamonds and spending lime with a fellow student who has special needs. And that's before all the Scouting stuff. One night a week, he attends meetings meetings of the 18th Oshawa Scouts, and on another night he joins a local Cub group, where he is a leader in training. training. It's a lot on one plate but Josh is a motivated motivated kid - which explains why he was the first Scout from his group - in almost 20 years, to take home the highest badge a Scout can earn. Last month, the Grade 9 student was honoured with the Chief Scout's Award, created in 1973 by then Governor General General Roland Michener. The award, which only an estimated two per cent of Scouts ever achieve, is earned after completing a dizzying list of achievements and being nominated by a leader. ; "It was hard work, but I really wanted to get that award," Josh said. "Hove Scouts and this is something I wanted to do for'a long time." Josh started his Scouting career at the age of five, intrigued by a handful of badges that his grandfather handed down to him. From Beavers he moved on to Cubs and is now finishing up his fourth it was hard work, but I really wanted to get that award.' --Josh Hilz ' .y*. 'S&M* ' ' , ■ ? ^ Walter Passarella / Metroland Durham Region Media Group Courtice Resident Josh Hilz was recently awarded the Chief Scout's Award, one of the highest honours in scouting. year in Scouts. At the Hilz house in Courtice, Scouting Scouting is a family affair. Josh's two sisters ware former Scouts and his mother Anne and father Bill are both leaders with his group., "I'm really proud watching Josh, he's learning self discipline and respect for himself and others and creating a name for himself," said his mom, who loves being a Scout leader as much as her son loves being a Scout. "It's a lot of work for these kids, but what they take away is worth it." Josh says he can't begin to list the skills he has learned over the years, but rhymes off backpacking, first-aid, gardening, recycling and swimming to name a few. I'm also a pretty good cook," he said out a cooking badge among those that cover his red sash. "I can make Kraft Dinner, hamburgers, spaghetti and chicken." pointin 6 He says-camping trips are among his favourite Scouting memories, recalling food fights with leaders and the time his group camped in -45 degree weather. Josh said he plans to stay with Scouts as long as he can, moving up the ranks to Venturers, Rovers and eventually becoming becoming a full-fledged leader. Durham municipalities featured in lifelong learning study Results are above national average, but below the province's in some areas BY CRYSTAL CRIMI Staff Writer DURHAM - Lifelong learning in Durham Durham is higher than the national average, but lower than Ontario's in some communities, communities, shows a new Canadian study. With a score of 75.4 on a Composite Learning Index recently released by the Canadian Council on Learning, the Oshawa Oshawa Census Metropolitan Area (CMA), which includes Whitby and Clarington,, sits a little lower than the provincial aver age of 75.9 and higher than the country's 73. Ajax, Pickering and Uxbridge are featured featured in the Toronto CMA, which scored 76.2. ' "Overall, the areas are both similar," said Chris Boughton, a senior research analyst for the council. He said the study and scores reflect lifelong learning, personal development, how people live together in a community, if learning conditions are favourable to economic success and more. "The city of Oshawa (CMA) is doing particularly well when it comes to having having an educated working age/' said Mr. Boughton. "But where Oshawa appears to not be doing as high is the learning to live together; it's more to do with social development." He said the index uses four pillars for 'It's a really good resource for people to see how the different communities in Canada are doing.' -- Chris Broughton scoring: learning to know, which looks at literacy and education; learning to do, for job-related training; learning to live together, for issues such as volunteer and social club involvement; and learning to be, for sports participation and cultural avenues. "For that city, Oshawa... it's about average average for learning to do and learning to be, but it's higher than average when it comes to learning to know," said Mr. Boughton. In Oshawa, residents are above national averages for youth reading skills, high school dropout rates, attendance in a formal formal education system, university attainment attainment and spending on tire Internet. It's below average for clubs and memberships. memberships. The index score is tallied using 16 main indicators, which each include a different weight, said Mr. Boughton. "Toronto is 76.2, which is marginally higher than Oshawa and did about the same in the learning to know," he said. "It scored slightly higher in the other three 'pillars." Other Ontario areas evaluated include Thunder Bay, Sudbury, Ottawa-Gatineau. Kitchener, Hamilton, London, Windsor and St. Catharines-Niagara. Greater Sudbury scored 66.7, while Ottawa-Gatineau received 84.6. "Ontario's a huge place so there's a lot of variations," said Mr. Boughton. He added he thinks making regional instead of provincial comparisons is useful. "It's a really good resource for people to see how the different communities in Canada are doing." said Mr. Boughton. He said the index was created using mostly information from Stats Canada and is the first study of its kind. He said it's geared toward a large audience and allows people to look at how a particular community is doing, see its strengths and weaknesses and be compared with other municipalities. i The learning council is looking to release the index annually. For more information, visit www.ccl-cca.ca/ccl. 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