Honoring initiative

Inspiring youth

In 1979, Congress established an award program honoring personal development in young Americans between the ages of 14 and 23. After 34 years surprisingly few parents and educators seem to know about such a cherished award. And that’s regrettable.

The Congressional Award is a nonpartisan, public-private partnership program that bestows bronze, silver and gold certificates and medallions on youths who voluntarily achieve challenging goals in four areas: Public service, personal development, physical fitness and exploration.

In other words, the award honors those who strive to build character, overcome personal challenges, offer service and develop a healthy body.

It also allows participants to proceed at their own pace. It is not competitive and there is no grade-point requirement. All within the age range are encouraged to participate, including those with mental and physical disabilities.

That said, on Thursday, four young women from Northwest Arkansas will join the list of 49 Arkansans to have received the bronze, silver and gold medallions since the Congressional Awards were established through the efforts of two congressmen.

Anna Hope of Bentonville (now in college) will receive the gold medal. Min Kim of Fayetteville High School will receive a silver medallion. Shelby Freitas, a senior at Haas Hall Academy in Fayetteville will receive both the bronze and silver medals after spending nearly two years meeting the requirements for both. Her younger sister, Kaitlin Freitas, an eighth-grader at Haas Hall, will receive the bronze medal.

These awards are a far cry from meaningless handouts. For example, to earn a bronze medal, students devote a minimum of seven months and 100 hours to voluntary public service, along with 50 hours each on personal development and physical fitness, as well as one overnight expedition/exploration.

A silver medal requires 12 months and 200 hours of public service and 100 hours each of development and fitness, and two overnights.

Earning a gold medal demands 24 months and 400 hours of service along with 200 hours each on the other categories, and four overnights.

I’m not at all surprised the Freitas sisters are included in this group of honorees. Some readers may recall a column a few years back in which I noted how Shelby, Kaitlin and their brother Josh routinely carried away the bulk of ribbons from the annual Washington County fair competitions in darned near every category.

Their parents, Becky and Dan Freitas, kept their children occupied during the more idle hours, not with video games and television, but by using their creativity toward positive ends such as learning to can foods and expressing

their creativity in arts and crafts.

How novel in today’s diversion addicted society.

I’m expecting Shelby, who began working toward the medals in August 2010, to complete her trifecta by earning her gold medal by next year. Becky, her mother, says Shelby already is very close to achieving that goal.

“The Congressional Award program has been a blessing to all of us,” said Becky. “It basically provided structure to the values we already believe in, like self-discovery and loving your neighbor as you do yourself. In Shelby’s case, some results were that she learned to volunteer to help others and finally achieved her goal of playing a guitar. Today, after many weeks of working hard to learn that skill, she’s actually playing guitar in our church and giving back to others.”

A young medal recipient named John Rasmussen of Minnesota expressed his satisfaction of earning a medal by saying: “It starts with a dream and a goal, and can only happen if you go out and give it a try.”

Yet another winner put his achievement this way: “I have come to realize that I not only have the power to make a difference in my community, but I have a responsibility to do it.”

Andrew Day, director of the Congressional Awards program told me that 214 Arkansans have registered to earn medals since 1979. “It [the program] requires a big commitment, though it’s certainly a worthwhile one,” he said.

Of those, 30 young Arkansans have earned bronze, 13 have achieved silver and six are gold medallion winners. As with everything worthwhile in this life, this program requires significant effort and achievement in order to gain recognition.

Gold medal winners are invited to Washington for their presentations at a ceremony.

Bootsie Ackerman, who directs Third District Rep. Steve Womack’s Northwest Arkansas office, said any young person who puts forth the effort to earn a Congressional Medal has displayed admirable internal and external strength. “I’m a little surprised how many school and parents still don’t know about the program,” she said.

I’d surmise there are thousands who know about it now.

Mike Masterson’s column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at mikemasterson10@hotmail.com. Read his blog at mikemastersonsmessenger.com.