Two Students Honoured with Top Cadet Award

Two first year students at The Sixth Form College have been honoured by the Lord-Lieutenant of Merseyside for their outstanding service with the Sea Cadets.

Oumie Jallow and Carl Kelly received the Certificate of Merit from Dame Lorna Muirhead, Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant for Merseyside, which is a decoration held in great esteem across all the Armed Forces.

Presented with their honours at a ceremony in Liverpool Town Hall, Oumie and Carl were selected for the prize due to their dedication and hard work with the Cadets during their five year tenures, with both having been part of the Force since the age of 12.

Leading Cadet Carl, who joined The Sixth Form College from Mosslands last year, said: “I was in Scouts before and my dad always encouraged me to get into the Cadets because my brother had done it before me. It was the best thing I ever did.”

Currently awaiting exam results in Business, Economics, Law and Politics, Carl is set for a career in the legal field but said: “The Cadets may not be the start of the career I want to go into, but the last five years have been filled with so many activities and opportunities through the service that it’s difficult to know where to start when talking about them. I’ve done so many water-sports, off shore voyages, courses, met officers from all the armed forces and all walks of life, and I even got to meet the Queen when she was in Liverpool a few weeks ago!”

With Cadet experience and honours adding to a burgeoning CV, Carl, 17, was part of The Sixth Form College’s Bar Mock Trial team, who made the national finals at the Old Bailey in London after winning the regional competition. He puts some of his personal success in that arena down to what he’d learnt through his time with the Cadets:

“It’s given me a lot of skills that I may not have otherwise. I’ve learn how to discipline myself, which has helped when it comes to college work, and it’s also given me a huge amount of confidence in talking to new people and dealing with anything that’s thrown at me. That confidence definitely helped in standing up and delivering in the Old Bailey!”

Oumie echoed Carl’s sentiments as far as learning life skills through the Forces, and said: “It’s given me a lot of discipline too; I suppose I was a bit all over the place when I was younger! It feels like I’ve grown up with the Cadets now and it’s offered me a career path for after I leave college and have my A Levels.

“Not everyone gets involved knowing that they want a career out of it. When I first started I had ideas about being a vet but now I’m set on joining the Navy. Spending all the time around the Force and visiting bases has given me a real insight as to what’s involved, so it gives me the advantage of going into it with my eyes open.”

Oumie came to the college from Upton Hall, and like Carl, has such an abundance of experiences with the Cadets that narrowing down the most special or important of them is becoming increasingly difficult. She now holds the highest rank within the service, that of Petty Officer Cadet, and her unit was part of a six week exchange programme with Canadian Cadets in 2015.

Oumie said: “Spending time in Canada gave me memories that’ll last forever. I made so many friends that I still keep in touch with, and seeing how the Forces from other countries work was fascinating. There are so many similarities and so many differences. It was a huge honour to be representing the UK though.”

Aiming for a Navy career in engineering or weaponry, Oumie holds an international powerboat license and has participated in the Battle of Trafalgar parade in London five times, the last in the prestigious position of a guard.

Colonel Mark Underhill, Chief Executive of the North West of England and the Isle of Man Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Association (NW RFCA) which runs the awards, said: ‘Petty Officer Cadet Jallow and Leading Cadet Kelly are shining examples of the opportunities available through the Cadet organisations to gain experience, knowledge and qualifications. They are both excellent ambassadors for the Sea Cadets and for the young people of Merseyside.”