Congressional Award by Sarah

Last Saturday was one of the best days in the week. It started off by the entire family going running. Afterward we decided to go out for breakfast at Chick-fil-A and then hit the stores so that mom could get some stuff done. We had a great morning. It was tax free weekend so we found some great sales. In the late afternoon we went to see Iron Man in the dollar theater. The best part of the day came when I arrived home. Waiting on the table for me was the Bronze Certificate for the Congressional Award. The Bronze Certificate is the first of 6 awards, given when you have set and completed goals in four different areas. The four different areas are: personal development, voluntary service, physical fitness, and exploration or expedition. For each level you set new goals and put in a certain amount of hours. For the physical fitness goal I trained to run a 5k in less than 29 minutes. On April 19th at the Chickamauga Chase I successfully reached my goal with a time of 28:20. For the voluntary service goal I have been volunteering at the Ooltewah Collegedale library. At the library I mostly shelve, scan, and clean books. For the personal development I got to do one of my lifelong dreams: I finally got to take a quilting class to learn how to quilt. During the 5 week course I learned how to do 5 different basic blocks that I got to put together to form a mini quilt or wall hanging. For the expedition Susie, Mary, and I went to the Chickamauga Battlefield for a day of hiking. It was a very eventful day filled with getting lost, figuring out the very complicated map, needing the restroom, walking, and having fun being together. That summarizes the first level of the Bronze Certificate. I am now very motivated to continue working hard for the next level. It was a great Saturday.