Parker: More youths introduced to international awards program

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On Friday, at the McDougall Centre, Lt.-Gov. Lois Mitchell will present 25 outstanding young people with The Duke of Edinburgh’s Silver Award.

Ashley Tedham will represent the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award program as executive director for Alberta, N.W.T. and Nunavut. Tedham, who has worked with the program since the start of 2017, is passionate about empowering and motivating youth.

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Her own story is one determined by a desire to serve others, which she says began as a Grade 12 exchange student in Paris, where she became proficient in the French language.

Back home at the University of Calgary, Tedham earned a degree in political science. She was awarded a CIDA internship with Canmore-based CAUSE Canada to work for a year in Sierra Leone following the 2002 end of the civil war there.

Tasked with directing a research project on barriers to girls’ education, she designed, implemented and monitored a rural women’s empowerment program.

CIDA policy requires interns to complete a six-month debriefing after a tour, so back home Tedham helped the Centre for Newcomers as a refugee youth facilitator. When funding for that program temporarily dried up she was again able to help youths at Immigrant Services Calgary. The pilot project was expected to assist about 12 young people. By the time Tedham left a year later, it had served over 150.

By 2010, Europe was again beckoning and Tedham left for Geneva where she was one of 80 international students chosen to study for a two-year international affairs program at the Graduate Institute.

She remained in Geneva as executive assistant to the Republic of Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations. After two years she joined the World Meteorological Organization and then served with the World Health Organization.

After seven years away from home and missing her family, Tedham returned to Calgary, where she would join the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award program.

In Geneva, she had met Calgarian Martina Szabo at a gym they both attended. Her friend offered to bring home and store one of Tedham’s suitcases. When she went to retrieve her belongings, Martina’s mother Nancy, a lawyer and president of City Box Storage, invited her in.

Szabo, a Duke of Edinburgh’s Award board member for many years, will take over as president of the locally run division this month after Al-Karim Khimji retires.

After hearing Tedham’s story she said, “You are just the person we need to run the organization here.”

Tedham saw it as an opportunity to use her experience and creativity to help young people. The program’s awards are earned by devoting time to community service, learning a new skill, being physically active and exploring nature.

She is working with agencies such as Wood’s Homes, and her staff is also working to encourage First Nations and mentally and physically challenged youth. At Friday’s ceremony, Tedham will announce a new youth resiliency project that will help youth in the justice system participate in the awards program.

Tedham still finds time to volunteer with Immigrant Services Calgary as well as every Saturday morning empowering women to succeed through Dress for Success. 

News and notes

• Peter Burgener would have been thrilled with the result of the recent third annual memorial concert in his name held at Mount Royal’s Bella Concert Hall. The event raised $228,000 for Classroom Champions.

David Parker appears regularly in the Herald. Read his columns online at calgaryherald.com/business. He can be reached at 403-830-4622 or by email at info@davidparker.ca.