Jay Renn Hoo had to think on his feet last Christmas, when his mom fell while snowboarding on Mount Tremblant in Quebec.
“This isn’t like your small hill, like Chicopee or Blue Mountain,” Jay Renn said. “It takes 20 minutes to go all the way down.”
Jay Renn was the strongest snowboarder and was following behind his parents and younger sister. He said his dad and sister were further down the mountain when his mother, Rebecca, broke her rib and hit her head. She had a concussion and was left unconscious.
“I don’t remember anything,” she said of the fall.
A situation like this would send a lot of 15-year-olds into a panic. But Jay Renn’s survival training from the Royal Canadian Air Cadets kicked in.
“In a split second, he was able to remain calm,” Rebecca said.
Jay Renn got the attention of ski patrollers and went down the mountain with his mom and her gear, then sat with her in the ambulance. He was able to get his mother registered at the hospital
“He took charge at the hospital,” Jay Renn’s dad, Anthony, said. “He was calm and cool as ice through the whole thing.”
Jay Renn, whose rank is Flight Sergeant with the Dundas Firebirds 735 Squadron, said he has his time as an Air Cadet to thank for how he handled the emergency.
In his four years as an Air Cadet, Jay Renn has won a handful of awards – for Best New Recruit, Top Participation Award and the second highest honour for Air Cadets, the Lord Strathcona Medal.
The Lord Strathcona Medal is for cadets or service members who have set a good example for other cadets and shown exemplary service and performance.
“It’s the top honour next to the Bravery Medal,” Jay Renn said.
He said being a cadet has been foundational to him. He started during COVID, when there weren’t many kids his age signing up. Since then, he has stood vigil at the Dundas cenotaph for Remembrance Day, spent time learning survival skills at an Air Cadet summer camp, put in hours volunteering and has flown a glider with a professional pilot.
But he isn’t the family’s only cadet.
Jay Renn’s sister, Kay Lynn, is following her brother’s lead. She has been a corporal in the Royal Canadian Air Cadets for almost two years and won the Best New Recruit Award herself.
While she became interested in the group because of her brother, her main reason for joining was her love of the movie Top Gun.
“When I saw that movie, the different airplanes were so cool and how fast they were going… So I joined Air Cadets because I heard that we could go gliding as well,” she said.
Since then, she has flown a glider twice. She also mentioned she has read a poem for Remembrance Day in her full Air Cadet uniform twice and has conquered her nerves around public speaking.
Jay Renn said he recommends the Air Cadets to anyone his age looking to learn.
“There are lots of great opportunities to improve your skills, especially in leadership, public speaking,” he said. “And you get to meet lots of great people.”
