16 young Albertans were recently honoured at the Alberta Great Kids Awards and one of them is from Airdrie.

W.H. Croxford student Kate Metcalfe won for her efforts in overcoming mental health issues at a young age and says she was very surprised when she found out she won.

Kate Metcalfe was one of several young Albertans honoured at the Great Kids Awards (Photo Courtesy: Government of Alberta)

“I didn’t even know I was nominated. Apparently, the teachers at our school were sent a link saying ‘if you know a kid who would be good for this award, you should fill in an application for them.’ A couple months later, we received a call and they’re like ‘hey, you won an award.’ I said, ‘are you talking to the right Kate?’”

While Metcalfe is honoured for the award she said she overcome her struggles without the support of those around her.

“After I struggled with Mental Health I kinda came back wanting to make a difference. When I look at it, I couldn’t have come back from Mental Health if it wouldn’t have been for my family and friends. Not only is it recognizing me but it’s recognizing everyone that’s helped me in this journey and I think that’s really cool.”

Metcalfe was instrumental in helping organize the first-ever Movement for Mental Health event at W.H. Croxford. She hopes that winning the award will inspire other students to talk about Mental Health.

“Being at that event I met a lot of very interesting people that I’m building more and more connections that I’m hoping I can continue to work with to keep advocating for Mental Health.” Hopefully, in that process, more students begin to realize that it’s ok to struggle with Mental Health and it’s ok to have issues and it’s ok to talk about it, that’s kind of my main goal.”

The Great Kids Awards were handed out in Edmonton on May 6th.

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