Eight Powell youth earn Congressional Awards

Posted 10/13/20

Nearly 100 outstanding Wyoming youth earned bronze, silver and gold Congressional Awards in 2020. 

The Wyoming Congressional Award Council recently announced that 38 youth received gold …

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Eight Powell youth earn Congressional Awards

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Nearly 100 outstanding Wyoming youth earned bronze, silver and gold Congressional Awards in 2020. 

The Wyoming Congressional Award Council recently announced that 38 youth received gold medals and 54 earned bronze and silver medals. That included eight young people from Powell.

Gabrielle Lundberg and Raelynn Ramsey each received the Gold Congressional Award, which is the most prestigious award for youth and the only award given to students by the U.S. Congress.

“Through the process of earning my Gold Medal I have enjoyed meeting new people in my community and around the state. I have also learned a lot about myself through helping others,” Lundberg said.

In her reflection on the Congressional Medal process — which includes completing hundreds of hours of community service — Ramsey wrote that one of her favorite experiences “was being able to travel to Texas with Samaritan’s Purse to help with Hurricane Harvey relief.”

Meanwhile, Powell students Kayla Kolpitcke, Rachel Kuntz, Hailee Paul and Crandell Sanders earned silver medals through the program, and Kaitlyn Beavers and Allison Morrison were awarded bronze medals.

Each medalist achieved a set of challenging goals in the areas of voluntary public service, personal development, physical fitness and expedition/ exploration. Earning a bronze medal requires at least a seven-month commitment while earning the gold medal involves two or more years. Across the state, participants in the Wyoming Congressional Awards program logged over 48,400 hours in public service, personal development and physical fitness in 2020.

In order to earn a bronze medal, participants completed 100 hours of volunteer service, 50 hours of personal development, 50 hours of physical fitness and executed a one-night exploration or expedition. To earn a silver medal, participants completed another 100 hours of service, 100 hours of personal development and 100 hours of physical fitness — in addition to executing a two-night exploration or expedition.

To earn the Gold Congressional Award, participants had to complete at least 400 hours of volunteer service, 200 hours of personal development, 200 hours of physical fitness and execute a four-night and five-day exploration or expedition. Gold medalists also receive a $1,000 higher education scholarship.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all in-person ceremonies for the Wyoming Congressional Award program were canceled in 2020. The 2020 Gold Medal Ceremony was held during a Saturday live-stream event. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell both gave their congratulations to the medalists, along with remarks from a list of senators and representatives that included U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo. Retiring U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., was a special guest  at the virtual ceremony, alongside CNN news anchor Wolf Blitzer and former Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith. The trio offered the medal winners encouragement and advice.

The Congressional Award is the U.S. Congress’ only charity and award program for youth. First introduced by U.S. Sen. Malcolm Wallop, R-Wyo., in 1979, the non-partisan and voluntary program is open to everyone ages 13 1/2 to 23.

For more information about the Wyoming Congressional Award program, visit www.wcac.us.

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