Sonia Burns completed the Congressional Award in high school, which made her more aware of some of the issues faced within her community and how different organizations address these needs.
The Congressional Award is a program created by the United States Congress to promote achievement in young people. It consists of different areas of completion, including exercise, personal development, exploration, and 400 hours of community service. The Congressional Award is a self-paced, self-driven project, and is accessible to people of all backgrounds. It is very affordable, and the areas of the award are flexible so anyone can accomplish them.
Sonia first heard of the Congressional Award in seventh grade. As she was already involved in many extracurriculars that would help her complete the award, Sonia decided to pursue it. Sonia continued the Congressional Award through high school, on top of many other time commitments including school, cross country, and work.
Community service is a large part of the Congressional Award, and Sonia completed countless hours of volunteering in her community through middle and high school. Sonia first volunteered with Assisteens, providing resources to low-income students. Sonia was part of the first class of her community’s chapter of Assistance League, Assisteen’s national parent organization. With Assisteens, she worked with a church to make pajamas and hand them out to low-income children and volunteered at food pantries in her community. Sonia also volunteered with Solely Sunshine and wrote cards to patients in mental hospitals. She really enjoyed the artistic aspect of creating the cards and spent many hours on them to show the recipients how much she cared. One more organization Sonia was a part of is Knifty Knitters, where she knitted scarves and distributed them to homeless teens and active duty military people in her community.
Through her hours of community service, Sonia became conscious of the issues that people in her community were facing. She learned that many people were struggling to meet the basic needs of survival, such as putting food on the table and clothes on their children’s backs. Sonia took these basic necessities for granted before because they had always been provided for her. Through her volunteer work, Sonia also learned how the organizations she was working with functioned and the importance of communication in supplying resources to people who need them.
In college, Sonia is volunteering with the Blue Mountain Action Council, a community health organization in her college town. She has also volunteered at multiple food pantries in her college community and is looking forward to finding more volunteer opportunities in the future.
Sonia Burns is a rising sophomore at Whitman College in Washington State, studying biology. Inspired by her current internship in an aquatic propagation lab, she is planning to pursue research after college. Sonia also enjoys cycling and rock climbing.
