It was a moment he waited six years for, but Taylor Barker has finally received his Duke of Edinburgh Gold Level certificate.
The 2018 Korah Collegiate and IB Programme graduate attended a ceremony in downtown Toronto earlier this month where he was recognized by Lieutenant Governor Edith Dumont for his efforts in a program that very few students complete.
“It felt nostalgic being there,” he told SooToday.
Originally developed by Prince Philip in 1956, the Duke of Edinburgh program challenges young people to learn new skills, serve their communities and experience adventure outside the classroom.
Korah is the only high school in Sault Ste. Marie that offers it.
“It helps build a lot of character,” he said. “You have to be very committed to it.”
Right from Grade 9, students are expected to complete a certain number of hours each week in three sections: physical activity, skill development and volunteerism.
Divided into Bronze, Silver, and Gold over the course of high school, each level gets increasingly challenging as the time commitments to these sections grow.
“They make it so you have to be dedicated each week to it,” Barker explained. “You can only have one hour per week in each section because it’s meant to have people committed over time. Bronze is three months, silver is six months, and gold is 12 months.”
A multi-talented athlete, Barker got most of his physical activity hours playing soccer.
For skill development, he discovered an interest in music and learned how to play the drums. His volunteerism section, meanwhile, filled up with all sorts of activities, including charity drives, Relay for Life events and coaching soccer.
“It develops a lot of soft skills and pushes you out of your comfort zone,” he said. “It gets you comfortable in situations you normally wouldn’t be and allows you to implement change and be a leader.”
The other major pillar of the program is the trio of adventure trips — one for each level — that also grows in difficulty.
When Barker was at Korah, he and his classmates went up to Lake Superior Provincial Park to participate in hiking, canoeing, fishing and camping. At the bronze level in Grade 10, they spent three days up north while Grade 11 (silver) was four days and Grade 12 (gold) was five days.
“You’ve got your big backpack on that carries all your food, water filters, tarps, ropes, tents, sleeping bags," he said. "Anything you’re going to need for those five days, you’re bringing with you and carrying it.”
To wrap up the program, Barker had to complete The Gold Project where he went away to southern Ontario and joined other Canadian Duke of Ed participants at an outdoor survival camp for five nights. There, he learned how to build shelters and search for food, among other skills.
While most students don’t end up finishing the gold at all, the ones who do are typically in their early 20s, according to Barker.
By the time he had accrued all the necessary hours and adventures required of a successful candidate, he was still only 17 years old — which placed him within the top 0.001 per cent of program participants to finish all three levels (including gold) before the age of 18.
“It made me realize how grateful I was to have that opportunity at Korah,” he said. “There are people outside the Sault who had to do it on their own through an individual organization. At a young age, it’s probably a lot more difficult to do that.”
“I’m at high school every day, so to have the access to go talk to supervisors to teachers who are already there and helping us set up the exhibitions was a huge help,” he added.
Barker was 14 years old when he started the Duke of Ed, 17 when he finished, and 24 when he accepted the award on Aug. 16 in Toronto.
Rather than travelling south for the ceremony, he could have chosen to receive the certificate in the mail shortly after graduating high school, which most gold recipients typically do.
But Barker wanted to celebrate his accomplishments in-person — and he was willing to wait.
“It’s hard to believe it’s been six years,” he laughed. “They’re really small ceremonies to begin with, I think they cap them at 25 people. You’re put on a wait list, and then COVID hit so that delayed things too.”
Although the wait was long and his Duke of Ed days were long behind him, Barker was thrilled to meet the Lieutenant Governor and bask in the moment with other gold recipients from across Canada.
“It was a really good networking opportunity,” he said. “You get to meet people who are similar and like-minded, and they’ve done the same sort of things as me of course. I chatted with the Lieutenant Governor for a good ten minutes after she presented me the award which was great too.”
Now an Algoma University psychology graduate and a varsity soccer player, Barker will be taking the year to work while he applies for his master’s in the fall of 2025.
Without the Duke of Ed, it’s hard for him to imagine where he would be today.
“It was definitely the best decision I made,” he said. “It gave me the opportunities to go in any direction in life that I wanted.”