By Kailee Austin
Have you ever wanted to be more involved in your community? Well, the Congressional Award is the best way to do that. A quote from the Congressional Award Website says that “Participants earn Bronze, Silver, and Gold Congressional Award Certificates and Bronze, Silver, and Gold Congressional Award Medals. Each level involves setting goals in four program areas: Voluntary Public Service, Personal Development, Physical Fitness, and Expedition/Exploration. Earning the Congressional Award is a fun and interesting way to get more involved in something you already enjoy or something you’d like to try for the first time.”
Sophomore Hannah Frazier says, “Voluntary public service is the biggest and the hardest category to meet all the requirements for in my opinion.”
Theresa O’Connor, sophomore and the president of the club, says, “I plan and coordinate the monthly meetings. I also discuss with the other officers about our upcoming service projects for our monthly meetings. Especially in this time of Covid, I am happy that the officers and I were able to brainstorm unique volunteer opportunities.
“I also run the Google Classroom and announce reminders and updates through the site. In my position, I also run our TPA Congressional Award Club Instagram account. On the Instagram page, I post pictures of our members’ volunteer service, personal development, physical fitness, and expedition/exploration. I also post pictures of our members who receive new award levels.”
Another important role in this club is the vice president, fulfilled by sophomore Catherine Ross. Catherine states that “As vice president, I help promote the meetings by making and hanging up flyers. I also assist the president and find fun volunteer opportunities to do at meetings. I also help recruit new members and occasionally coordinate those volunteer opportunities. I also updated the Congressional Award Club page at the TPA website.”
Hannah Frazier mentions that “The four officers, Nishat Ahmed, Catherine Ross, Theresa O’Connor and myself, meet once a week with Mrs. Moffitt to discuss plans for the next meeting. Each meeting, we have people give updates on their progress in the program and if anyone is ready to present for their next award, we have them talk about what they did to meet all the requirements. After that, at every meeting we try to do some service for the rest of the meeting or discuss some new service opportunities we have come across.”
Are you looking for ways to volunteer in your community? Senior, Serena Andria, says that “Personally, I volunteer at an animal shelter, tutor kids, or help out any surrounding school with anything they need. There are plenty of other volunteer opportunities one can do though. I know of a couple of people who volunteer at Feed My Starving Children, Project C.U.R.E., or the library.” Catherine Ross mentions that she “volunteers at Women4Women, an organization that packages feminine hygiene products into bags. I also volunteer at the Tempe Public Library during summer where I assist the librarians. I also do peer tutoring.”
Theresa O’Connor states that “I have been in this program since I was in eighth grade and it has been a really gratifying experience. It has pushed me to grow as a student and a person because it inspired me to become more active in my community by volunteer service. I have also picked up several new hobbies and passions because of the personal development area of the Congressional Award program. Even though I have received all the award levels, I came back to run as president this year because I wanted others to have the same fulfilling experience that I did. I hoped for other participants to be influenced to be more involved within their community as I was when I was in middle school.” Throughout your time with the Congressional Award, you can receive all sorts of awards for your contributions! If at any time you decide you’re interested in Congressional Award, speak to Mrs. Moffitt or even reach out to the Instagram account @tempeprepcongressionalaward.