It’s a tradition nearly 100 years in the making and a rite of passage at The Royal Military College of Canada.
In front of proud family members and Canada’s top soldier, the graduating class of 2022 at RMC marched through the Memorial Arch Friday, to officially begin their careers in the armed forces.
The march under the arch for the 350 students who have officially graduated signifies their becoming commissioned officers of the Canadian Armed Forces.
The march takes place one day after the graduating class memorialized four of their classmates who won’t be graduating.
Officer cadets Jack Hogarth, Andrei Honciu, Broden Murph and Andrés Salek died tragically when their vehicle entered the water of Lake Ontario from the RMC campus in the early hours of April 29th.
The arch march tradition only happens twice for students, once when they begin their time at RMC and then again when they graduate.
For newly-minted officers and sisters Jenna and Alyssa Kane it’s a celebration of hard work and dedication.
“It was fantastic,” said Jenna Kane.
“It’s exhilarating because we’ve been waiting to do that for four years,” she added.
The Kane twins call Kingston their hometown and both won several awards Friday presented by the Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre.
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They are athletes and in fencing at RMC.
“We had a little break over COVID, but we had a redemption year this past year. We came home with the bronze in the OUAs which was really exciting,” said Alyssa Kane.
“It was a nice way to end off the four years.”
For only the second time in their lives, the twins will be apart and heading their own separate ways.
The first time was when Alyssa went to British Columbia, but that was only for a short period of time.
“For really the first time, we’re going to be separated completely,” said Jenna Kane
“It’s exciting, we’re excited to start our lives separately but we are also excited to meet each other in Borden again in November,” she added.
Alyssa will be heading to Petawawa for the summer, while Jenna makes her way across the country to Cold Lake, Alta.
It was a milestone of a day for the 270 graduating cadets and their families, as they begin their careers in the Canadian Armed Forces.
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