The Congressional Award

At the same Time, but at their own Pace: 2012 Gold Medalists Mark and Kelly Widerschein

Kelly (right) and Mark (middle) worked through the Award program together, sharing ideas, tips and even an Advisor— Mrs. Charlene Ernst (left). However, each set their own challenging goals according to their skill and knowledge.

As twins who are completely different from each other, we found the Congressional Award Program to be the perfect challenge. It allows you to plan goals that match your unique interests.

We started on the road to the Gold Medal at about the same time but at our own pace and we each came up with activities and services that reflected our talents. We even kept track of our accomplishments differently. If you are about begin working toward a Congressional Award, here are some of the tips that worked for us.

Deciding what to do:

Kelly: The Program Book is the secret to success. There are lists of ideas for Voluntary Public Service, Personal Development, Physical Fitness, and defines possibilities for both the Exploration and Expedition. One of the suggestions in this book is to group volunteer service hours using an “umbrella” goal or combining activities to meet one goal. My volunteer work at inner city schools, community centers, and at various city events worked best in this format.

Mark: Pick things you really like and expand on those areas. For instance, my interest in conservation and animals lead to my volunteer hours at the Ohio Wildlife Center and the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. This volunteer work meant I needed to speak to groups, so I took classes and joined competitions to learn how to be a compelling public speaker for a personal development goal.

Keeping Track:

Kelly: Get a multiple year calendar, color code your goals, and make notes with each activity or planning day. The Congressional Award is not just about the number of hours but also the number of months dedicated to meeting a goal. The multi-year calendar helps with tracking and with planning ahead. I also kept a folder with details, brochures, newspaper clippings, and photos. This was a quick, simple way to keep track of my hours.

Mark: I tracked everything on charts I created for the Congressional Award on my computer. The charts had columns for each activity, number of months, hours, and notes. I also had an online photo file. Periodically, I would print the charts out to have my Validator sign to confirm hours and accomplishments. Now these charts and photos are like a diary of the past four years of my life.

Why take part in this program?

Kelly: Earning the Congressional Award Gold Medal is one of my proudest accomplishments. I improved my ability to define, track, and complete goals. Now I have a documented record of accomplishments and through this program my Advisor and Validators have become mentors. Best of all, my experiences in teaching, dance, and community events not only allowed me to make a difference in my community but provided me with a solid foundation of experiences and skills that will help me in college and in my career.

Mark: Meeting all of the requirements for the Gold Medal inspired me to accomplish more than I thought possible over the past years. I would have pursued many of these goals but this set the bar higher in my planning, timing, tracking, and reflecting on these accomplishments as I summed them up to apply for the Congressional Gold Medal. Being purposeful in life makes a big difference in accomplishing things. Saying, “Oh, I might try that some day” is completely different than planning, “I am going to take this class, start this week, interview next month” and so on. Pursuing the Congressional Gold Medal pushed me to accomplish more than I thought possible.

We hope you will take the steps to pursue one of the levels of the Congressional Award. The sense of accomplishment is well worth the effort.

Good luck!

~Kelly and Mark Widerschein
2012 Gold Medalists

Bringing Home the Bronze: Bronze Medalists Nina and Grace Demet

This week, Bronze Medalists Nina and Grace Demet share their Congressional Award experiences in a video blog. The sisters have completed a combined 500 hours toward their Awards, and they aren’t finished yet! For more information on how you can get involved in the Congressional Award Program, click here.

Setting Goals: Words of Encouragement from the National Office

From time to time, we at the National Office will ‘blog’ about various portions of the program that can be a bit challenging. Whether you’re a current participant, a long-time Advisor, or someone new to the program, we hope you’ll find the following information helpful!

Perhaps the most unique part of the Congressional Award program is the fact that you set your own goals for each of the four program areas. Yes, you have your adult mentors and the Program Book to help guide you along the way, but outside of the program guidelines, it is entirely up to you to take the initiative in deciding how to earn your Award.

This is no mistake; Congress has designed the program so that you can get as much out of it as possible. By setting your own goals, you learn more about your interests, your limits (and how to surpass them!) and most importantly, you set a precedent for the rest of your life. As you continue on to your profession or higher education, you will have the skill and know-how to achieve the results you want— all because you know how to set goals. Goals are the secret to a successful future.

So here’s how to get started. After registering, you set your goals and have them approved by your Advisor and Validators. Your goals should demonstrate initiative and forethought. Think ahead— what would you like to accomplish?

It can help to ask the following questions while setting goals:

Is my goal…

…achievable? Try to plan ahead and set goals that are doable in the several months or years that you’ll be working toward your Award. “I will learn more about space by becoming and astronaut” may be a good life goal, but it’s probably not a realistic goal during your time in the Congressional Award program.

…challenging? While you should be sure to set achievable goals, be extra sure that your goals challenge you. Go ahead and push yourself—this is your chance to test your limits and explore your interests!

…worthwhile? Be sure that your goal offers a benefit of some kind to someone. If you and/or the people you’re serving aren’t getting anything out of your activity, it might be time to rethink your goal.

…measureable? Not everything can be measured in numbers, but your goal should provide some way for you to track your progress and improvement.

…fulfilling? Take some time to think about all that you will accomplish. Medalists who have gone before you will tell you, it’s a good feeling to look back and say “I did that!”

If your answer is ‘no’ to any of these questions, it’s time to re-think your goal. If the answer to is ‘yes’, then it’s time to get to work! You should write your goal in the Record Book and start working on your activities.

As you work toward your goals, sometimes it becomes apparent that a goal needs to be re-worked. The great part about setting your own goals is that you get to learn about yourself and what interests you, as an individual. If you need to drop, add or revise a goal, simply talk with your Advisor and Validator at any time, and begin working toward a revised goal. Simple as that! Don’t worry, the time you spent on your previous goal, prior to revision, can still be counted toward the total hours for that program area (assuming, of course, that the activity itself is still unchanged). On a related note, goals and activities can change for each level of the Award. Again, it’s entirely up to you!

One of the more common questions we receive is, “Can I set more than one goal in a program area?” And the answer is yes. For each level of the Award, you can set several goals in each program area. For Voluntary Public Service, you can set up to four different goals, for Personal Development and Physical Fitness you can set two each, and for Expedition/Exploration you can set one new goal per level. Just be sure that a new Record Book page is used for each goal (please make copies as needed!).

When setting goals, there may be some cases where several, similar activities fit the same goal. These activities can be recorded on the same record book sheet. This is called an “Umbrella Goal”. Here’s an example:

“I will provide a minimum of 200 hours of service activities under the direction of the Pleasantville Office for Volunteer Service.”

Umbrella Goals are useful when your activities have a clear, underlying connection or similarity that helps achieve your goal. Please note, however, that broad collections of unrelated Voluntary Public Service activities would not be acceptable. The following, for example, would not be an acceptable Umbrella Goal:

“I will help people by working at the nursing home on weekends, tutoring younger students after school on Tuesdays, picking up trash on my daily morning walk along the trail and also starting my own non-profit to provide clothing to those in need.”

While Umbrella Goals should be broad enough to include multiple activities, they should not be so overly-broad that they no longer hold a real value— remember: achievable, worthwhile, measureable, challenging and fulfilling. A good goal should be all of these.

For more information on goal-setting, please see page five of the Program Book, available here.

In 2011, approximately 1,500 young people earned a Congressional Award. Just think— each of those young people had the creativity to set their own goals and the drive to achieve them. If you or someone you know has the ability to do the same (and we know you do!!), click here!

~Don Stein
North Program Manager
The Congressional Award Foundation

Congressional Award Advisor and Maverick Foundation Co-Founder Bob Gullickson

Chief James Boylan and Fireman Chris Quin of the Fire Department of New York join (from left to right) Maverick Foundation founders Jim McGuire and Robert Gullickson in honoring their program’s scholarship recipients: 2011 Gold Medalist Joseph Plescia, 2012 Gold Medal Candidate Michelle De Tomaso, 2011 Bronze Medalist Victoria Vega, as well as Congressional Award participants Jessica Halter and Jordan Marino. Lauren Gullickson and Michael Byrne will soon register for the Congressional Award.

The Maverick Foundation was co-founded by Jim McGuire and Bob Gullickson in 2002 to honor the memory and legacy of two very special people, Lt. Joe Gullickson with the Fire Department of New York, who made the ultimate sacrifice on September 11, 2001, and Dan McGuire, who tragically lost his life in an automobile accident on September 1976. We decided to provide a scholarship to Moore Catholic High School, where Dan would have graduated from in 1977 and Joe did graduate from in 1982. We also wanted to do something more than provide a scholarship. We were not necessarily looking for the brightest kids with the highest grades or the all star athletes, but for special young adults who were willing to realize their full potential in all areas and had a passion for helping others and making a difference in their community. Once we were set on this idea, we began researching and developing a program tailor-made for our scholarship to capture the essence of personal development including academics and volunteer work. It was during this process that we discovered the Congressional Award Foundation. The program turned out to be the perfect complement to the scholarship.

The Congressional Award Foundation laid out specific requirements in the areas of Voluntary Public Service, Personal Development, and Physical Fitness, but was also general enough in each area that anybody who was determined to succeed could find a way to do so. For example, you could use yoga or dance for a Physical Fitness activity or art and music for Personal Development. We tell our kids to follow their hearts they will find a way to accomplish their goals. We liked the concept of benchmarks because it required each young person to plan and execute on a specific schedule. Lastly, we appreciated that their accomplishments could be recognized nationally in a presentation ceremony by their Member of Congress.

The Maverick Foundation provides high school scholarships to eighth graders who are then required to participate in The Congressional Award Foundation. They are required to apply for the Bronze Medal by December of their sophomore year, the Silver Medal by December of their junior year, and the Gold Medal by December of their senior year.

The Maverick Foundation has, through the efforts and dedication of our scholarship recipients, realized five Congressional Award Gold Medals in our first ten years. As they receive their medals and grow in the program, we see young adults become future leaders before our eyes. Their confidence grows in leaps and bounds. They reach out for opportunities rather than wait for them to come to them; they are not afraid of a challenge. Officials at Moore Catholic High School have told us how proud they are of the accomplishments of these kids and the work The Maverick Foundation does to promote The Congressional Award Foundation. We believe we have better prepared our kids to not only succeed in the world with full potential, but to continue their mission of helping others and making a difference in the community.

~Robert Gullickson
Congressional Award Advisor and co-founder of the Maverick Foundation

For more information on the Maverick Foundation, click here.

Start with Running: Gold Medalist Kevin Suyo

Start with running. In ninth grade I was no sportsman: too lanky for football, too short for basketball, too uncoordinated for soccer. I was the studious type. By default I ran cross-country, but I treated it as a chore and not a passion; another required class in high school. I dreaded the bitter sprints on grey evenings and the cold slap of grainy mud on my calves. I hated the smell of the locker room and the velvety feel of running shorts. And I tried most days to avoid the glare of the coach who in my freshman eyes stood as silent taskmaster, clipboard in hand, judging our progress from his perch in the gazebo on the hill high above the sports fields.

When I began working towards the Congressional Award, I used cross-country as my exercise in physical fitness. It seemed a logical choice, and I expected to accumulate my two hundred hours painfully, drearily. But gradually something changed. In seeing my hours tick steadily upwards, I found excitement, satisfaction, accomplishment. I stopped dreading practice. I grew to enjoy the crunch of dead leaves under rubber sneakers and the freshness of grass on misty race days and the taste of copper and tin – the taste of exertion – present in each athletic breath. I grew stronger.

The Congressional Award had given me both a goal and the opportunity for self-reflection. I had been running because I was required to: because school policy forced every student to play a sport. But those award hours gave me something to strive for. I began to wonder why I was working for them, and the answers I discovered changed the way I thought of the sport. I began to run because it was healthy. Because it taught self-discipline. And yes: because maybe, just maybe, it could even be fun.

Another part of my outlook changed as well, in a more important way. My coach became my validator, and in turning to him I began to see him not as an overseer but as a mentor. And he, seeing the newfound sense of passion I brought to the field, began to challenge me and help me grow. He guided me as I passed through high school, becoming not only my coach but my teacher, my advisor, my college recommendation writer.

The value of building relationships with advisors seems self-explanatory to me now, but I forget sometimes that this skill was learned, and that at one point in my life I was that silly thirteen year old, who needed a gentle push towards taking advice. For the Congressional Award, which gave me that push, I am grateful.

-Kevin Suyo
2007 Gold Medalist