With scholarships from Chilliwack Minor Hockey and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association already in hand, Chilliwack native Carson Clegg has netted another one.
At the BC Hockey AGM awards banquet, held last weekend at Sun Peaks Resort near Kamloops, the 18-year-old was announced as the winner of the BC Hockey Staff Scholarship.
“I’m pretty excited about that,” the teenager said after being told about it by your friendly neighborhood Progress sports editor Wednesday morning. “My parents have been paying for my hockey for nine years and I’ve gotten a lot of enjoyment out of it, but it’s nice to get something back as well.”
The process has been an interesting one for the Sardis secondary student.
“It was the same for all of them, where I had to fill out a form that demonstrates my commitment to hockey,” he explained. “So I wrote that I was the captain of my midget house team this year, and assistant captain in past seasons. I played in a charity hockey game between Sardis and Chilliwack last Christmas and I’ve spent four years at the hockey academies at Chilliwack middle school and Sardis secondary school.”
Next, Clegg had to establish his community credentials and his willingness to get involved as a volunteer.
“So, over the years, my family has been involved with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and I’ve spent lots of time cleaning and maintaining streams that fish use,” he said of his stream stewardship activities. “I’ve been on a humanitarian trip to Haiti and I’ve volunteered with Pacific Riding for Developing Abilities, which is a not-for-profit therapeutic riding facility.”
Like any good resume, reference letters were required — from coaches and teachers and even David Soltys, the past president of CMHA.
It took a lot to pull it all together.
“It was kind of a relief to have everything done and in,” Clegg admitted. “I don’t know how confident I felt about getting the scholarships, but I was happy to have shown them what I’ve done.”
With or without the hockey scholarships, Clegg was already on the fast-track to post-secondary schooling, with scholarship opportunities available at McGill University and the University of Northern BC.
Wherever he ends up going, he plans to major in bio-chemistry with an eye towards future enrollment at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan.
