Cadets celebrate first female under officer

The squadron promoted Aida Wiseman to her new rank of Cadet Under Officer and Maison Crawley to Cadet Warrant Officer at a special ceremony on February 12, recognising many years of dedicated work and service to the community.

Plenty came out to celebrate and recognise the achievement, including Inspector Susie Skof from the NSW SES Griffith unit, deputy mayor Anne Napoli, principal of Marian Catholic College Penny Ludicke and principal at MRHS Griffith Duncan Lovelock.

"I'm really excited, we've both worked so hard to get here ... it's a lot of initiative, a lot of stepping up and lots of behind the scenes work," said Cadet Under Officer Wiseman.

"We've grown so much. When I first came into the organisation, I know I was quite shy and kind of scared to do everything but now I'm confident to stand in front of a crowd and teach a lesson. If something comes up, I'm confident in making a decision."

Cadet Warrant Officer Crawley said that stepping into a leadership role wasn't always easy but overcoming the hurdles had been a huge moment of growth.

"When it comes to planning, one of the biggest challenges we have to overcome. There's roadblocks but there's ways to get around that and get it going," he said.

"I'd recommend it to anybody and everybody."

Flight Lieutenant Michael Borg said he was immensely proud of the two cadets for their work and growth, both within and outside of the cadets.

"I've watched these two grow from little kids to what they've become now. They've both become really strong people who will go a long way in life," he said.

"The squadron motto is 'Today's youth, Tomorrow's leaders' and they've proven that time and time again."

Looking forward, Cadet Warrant Officer Crawley was looking forward to continuing with the Australian Defence Force after cadets, while Cadet Under Officer Wiseman has two years of high school left but was hoping to find higher education opportunities that would help her use the skills cadets had taught her.