A young woman from Estevan is moving on up with Canada's National Defence team.

Cadet Akara Reeves, 14, just recently graduated from the Fullbore Marksmanship Phase 1 course. The four-week summer training program took place in the Ottawa area.

It's a course that gives 55 cadets from across Canada the opportunity to develop as a specialist. Reeves will now have the opportunity to attend Phase 2 next summer.

"I joined the cadet program because I wanted to try something new as a hobby instead of just laying around. I also really like military movies, so I wanted to try something similar," said Reeves, who joined the cadets in December 2019.

Reeves' mother Brittany said the cadet program runs in her family.

My husband (Nathan) was a cadet, and so was a family friend. And we gave her the choice of whether or not she wanted to join, and she chose to join because she wanted to learn more about what she could do and what they went through," said Brittany Reeves. "It was something to get her closer to her dad."

"I'm proud that she wanted to do it...she chose that course on her own. (I'm) just proud of what she did."

Akara Reeves also explained why she picked the Fullbore course in particular.

“I chose the Fullbore course because I’m really into shooting and it was the only course I was interested in," said Cadet Reeves. “My goal is to get a perfect target and to improve my breathing techniques."

She'll have an opportunity to do that and more next year, when the top 18 graduates of Phase 2 will be selected as members of the 2024 National Rifle Team to represent Canada in a competition in England.

Reeves is currently at a youth leadership camp near Prince Albert.

Akara ReevesAkara Reeves on the far right. (Photo supplied by Cadets Canada)