U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson presented three students from Cabarrus County with the Congressional Award on Thursday at his Concord office.
The Congressional Award is a non-partisan, voluntary and non-competitive award for achieving goals in volunteering, character development, and fitness.
All three Cabarrus recipients received the Silver Award after completing 400 hours of public service and personal improvement.
Students trying to earn the Silver Award complete:
200 hours of public service
100 hours of personal development
100 hours of physical fitness
Three days and two nights of exploration
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Almost 4,000 Congressional awards were earned this year. The program is open to all youth in the United States between the ages of 14 and 24. Participants can earn bronze, silver, and gold certificates or medals, depending on how many hours of service and development a participant completes.
Ciela Crane — a first-year UNC Charlotte student from Concord — said working toward her goals for the silver medal helped her navigate the transition into adulthood.
“It really helped me find where I wanted to be and support me as I was figuring out where I wanted to go as an adult,” Crane said. “There is just a wide range of opportunities and experiences, and there is nothing I would change that fell into place for this to happen.”
Crane volunteered in the community as a member of Girl Scouts and the 4-H Honor Club. While a student at Northwest Cabarrus High School, where she recently graduated, she also participated in Big Brothers Big Sisters and Keystone Club.
The program also requires participants to compete 100 hours of physical fitness and a three day exploration.
Parker Rose, a Covenant Classical School student from Kannapolis, knocked out his fitness hours by competing in cross county and participating in swimming. When it came time to pick his exploration, he kept the fitness theme and went on a backpacking trip along the Appalachian trail.
Rose is working toward achieving the gold medal and also went on a backpacking trip through Yellowstone National Park with his dad, and that, he said, has been his favorite thing to do for the program.
“The exploration trip I did this summer, in Yellowstone, I logged and kept track of everything planned the trip executed it. It was just really fun,” he said. “I learned a lot about how to plan a trip, how to look at the details you don’t think about normally and ensure everything runs smoothly because people are dependent on you.”
To complete the rest of his award, Parker served meals at a local soup kitchen, organized canned food drives, and helped with Angel gift trees to provide supplies for local children. Parker also tutored elementary and middle school students.
Cabarrus Kannapolis Early College student Kayla Anderson has also worked toward and completed the goals for her gold medal. This award presentation was for her silver medal and she will be presented with the gold at a later date.
Anderson volunteered through the Cabarrus Youth Council, working with local police departments to support children in need at Christmas and tutoring Spanish-speaking students in English. She also participated in Youth Commission and Teen Court to learn about the legal system and joined Delta Gems to support African American girls.
She completed her exploration component during the pandemic and adapted to the travel issues and social distancing guidelines by doing a virtual tour of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
At the end of the presentation, Hudson thanked the students for their hard work and said he looked forward to watching where they go from here.
“I use to hate when I was a young person and people would tell me I’m the future,” he said. “You’re not the future. You’re the present because you’re out there changing our communities right now every single day and you are making lives better by your service. You inspire me.”