A group of air cadets based in Estevan received a commendation for a long period of service, as the group has been present in Estevan for the last 80 years.

The 30th Wylie Mitchell Squadron has been serving the community in many ways.

Commanding officer Captain Danielle Fleury says she's pretty happy to be receiving the award.

"It's pretty neat that a program can run in the community for 80 years and it's still going strong," said Fleury, "It's great that there's a staff and the cadets that are interested in keeping the program going and running."

Fleury says the squadron has done a lot over the years, both for the community and for fun.

"We've been doing a little bit of everything. aviation, citizenship, drills, community service, working with other organizations in the community to help them out, doing some fundraising," said Fleury, "We've done a lot of trips in the past, a lot of sports activities, getting together with other squadrons, and lots of friendship and leadership."

One of the parts of the cadets is teaching kids some valuable life lessons, says Fleury.

"We do a lot for the kids," said Fleury, "We teach them to be good citizens, we teach them to do their uniforms, we teach them to be leaders and instructors, we teach them how to de effective teaching, a lot of cadets go away to summer camp where they can practice their skills and actually become glider pilots throughout the program."

Things have been a bit more difficult lately for the squadron, but they're still continuing to do training for the cadets.

"With covid things are a little bit difficult to do," said Fleury, "We are still doing some virtual training and some in-person training depending on where numbers are at that week, but we're keeping the kids interacting and engaged."

Fleury adds that she hopes the cadets will continue for at least another 80 years.