The Congressional Award: Silver Medal

In 2026, after nearly three years of work, I earned the Congressional Award Silver Medal. I had already earned the Congressional Award Silver Certificate in 2025, but receiving the medal felt different. When I opened the email telling me I had earned it, I started thinking about how much I had changed while completing the different parts of the award. When I began, I was mostly focused on finishing the requirements. By the end, I had become more independent and more comfortable taking responsibility for myself and other people.

Most of my volunteer hours came from working as a Youth Teaching Assistant at Smithsonian Summer Camps. I helped campers learn during activities and was responsible for their safety. At first, I mostly thought of volunteering as being useful wherever I was needed. Over time, I realized that building connections with the kids was equally, if not more, important. Once I got to know the campers better, I had more fun, and they had someone they could trust. Working at the Smithsonian taught me that keeping kids engaged was easier when they felt comfortable with me, and it made me more confident in taking responsibility for others.

For the expedition portion of the award, I planned part of my family’s trip to Iceland. We drove along the southern coast through green fields and past waterfalls. The most memorable part of the trip was seeing a glacier in person. From far away, the glaciers looked like solid mountains, but up close, cracks and streams of melting water showed how quickly the ice was changing. We even got to climb down into openings in the ice and take pictures. A surprising fact I learned was about Iceland’s trees. Driving around the country, tall trees were sparse and mainly planted by humans. But, when I looked into Iceland’s history, I discovered that Iceland used to be covered in forests. When the Vikings arrived, they chopped down most of the trees, leaving the barren landscape we see today. Planning the trip taught me how to create an itinerary around rapidly changing weather and sometimes challenging driving conditions. I had to think ahead while also accepting that a plan might need to change.

I completed the physical fitness part of the medal by focusing on swimming. Swimming has been part of my life since childhood, when I also had asthma, so improving in the sport has always felt personal to me. I set a goal to improve my 200 Individual Medley time by two seconds, and I succeeded. Over my school’s winter swim season, my time dropped enough between time trials and Divisionals that I qualified for the Regionals competition. Seeing my name above the dotted line for the qualified swimmers was especially satisfying because, during my sophomore year, I had missed qualifying by one place. Reaching Regionals showed me that even an improvement measured in seconds could take months of consistent work.

Earning the Silver Medal made me notice a change in myself that had happened gradually. I am more willing now to take responsibility without waiting for someone else to tell me exactly what to do. I learned how to earn someone’s trust, adjust when a plan changes, and keep working toward a goal after falling short the first time. The medal matters to me because it reminds me of the independence I gained while working toward it.

How a New Species of Ancestors Is Changing Our Theory of Human Evolution

Homo naledi does not fit neatly into the way human evolution is usually explained. The species had a small brain and a flared pelvis, which seem more primitive. But it also had humanlike wrists, long legs, and modern-looking feet. This strange mix of traits was the focus of the TED Talk How a New Species of Ancestors Is Changing Our Theory of Human Evolution by Juliet Brophy.

The first Homo naledi remains were discovered in the Rising Star cave system in South Africa. Researchers recovered around 1,800 fossil specimens from at least 15 individuals. What made the fossils confusing was that different parts of the skeleton seemed like they could have belonged to completely different species. The other fragments were found to be the remains of an unidentified rodent and a bird. Eventually, researchers decided that the combination was unique enough to name a new species.

One of the most intriguing bits about the discovery was the age of the fossils. Based on Homo naledi’s small brain and other primitive features, scientists expected it to be around two million years old. Instead, the fossils were dated to only about 235,000 to 336,000 years ago. This meant that Homo naledi may have lived at the same time as early modern humans in Africa.

The discussion about tool use was also interesting as scientists have often connected larger brains with the ability to make stone tools. Homo naledi had a much smaller brain, but its hands and wrists were similar to those of species known to use tools. Since its fossils overlap in time with stone-tool industries in South Africa, scientists cannot automatically assume modern humans made every tool from that period. The fact that the fossils were found in a cave system creates questions not only about the biology of Homo naledi, but also about their culture. Were the bones in the cave evidence of a burial? Or perhaps they were the last resting place of an elder. Homo naledi’s timeline also raises questions about if they interacted with Homo sapiens. As more discoveries are made, more answers will be found along with many questions.