Skip to content

Four candidates step forward for evolved Cowichan Lake Ambassador Program

The Cowichan Lake Ambassador Program — formerly known as the Lady of the Lake program — has officially announced its 2023 candidates.
32085657_web1_230316-LCO-ambassador-candidates-ladyofthelake_1
The 2023 Cowichan Lake Ambassador Program candidates are: Mason Macpherson, sponsored by Eds Coffeehouse, Megan Bell, sponsored by the B.P.O. Elks, Olivia Youmans, sponsored by the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 210, and Lara Court, sponsored by Lake Cowichan Country Grocer.

The Cowichan Lake Ambassador Program — formerly known as the Lady of the Lake program — has officially announced its 2023 candidates.

Down ever so slightly from last year’s six, this year will feature four candidates all vying to represent the Cowichan Lake region in the coming year.

The 2023 Cowichan Lake Ambassador Program candidates are: Mason Macpherson, sponsored by Eds Coffeehouse, Megan Bell, sponsored by the B.P.O. Elks, Olivia Youmans, sponsored by the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 210, and Lara Court, sponsored by Lake Cowichan Country Grocer.

“The number of candidates seems to just be on trend with the number of age-eligible youth we have in the community right now,” explained program coordinator Jocelyn Lundberg. “The Grade 11 class is quite small right now so we recognize that this plays into how many candidates we get.”

The ambassador program season officially started on March 8 as the members of the Lake’s ambassador society met with the candidates and their guardians, and sponsor representatives.

“After spring break we start in with our regular Toastmasters meetings, community events, fundraising, and program preparations for the final events in June,” Lundberg said.

This year marks a first for the former Lady of the Lake program as it’s the first year it’s open to all genders.

A program aimed at promoting and supporting the growth, confidence, and education of all Cowichan Lake youth, officially now, all youth within the age restrictions can participate.

“We are very excited about this new chapter for the program,” Lundberg said in September 2022 when the change was announced. “In years past we had always maintained that if a non-female ever wanted to participate in the program we would welcome them, but upon further reflection, we realized that we didn’t want to put any young person in a position where they needed to ask — we felt it should just be.”

SEE RELATED: Cowichan Lady of the Lake program evolving to include all