Ortonville- On her quest for the Congressional Award, Kaitlyn Fote has worked several hundred hours doing a variety of things.
She has traveled to Trinidad and Mexico. She has sprained her ankle teaching soccer. She has learned to debate.
And today, she is teaching 8-12 year-olds how to make and use puppets at Ortonville Baptist Church.
‘I enjoy working with kids and doing puppets,? said the15-year-old Brandon Township resident. ‘I’m hoping they learn to enjoy puppets and how to work them.?
Fote organized the week-long puppet camp to benefit the community and to earn hours toward the Congressional Award, the only award the United States Congress gives that is not military-related. According to the website www.congressionalaward.org, the program offers young people the opportunity to set and achieve personal goals, learning about themselves and qualities like responsibility, trust and the ability to plan and organize. Participants must be at least 13-and-a-half years-old and must complete goals in the program by their 24th birthday.
Fote’s goal is to earn a gold medal in the program, meaning she must have 400 hours of voluntary public service; 200 hours of personal development; 200 hours of physical fitness and four consecutive overnights in the expedition/exploration segment of the program and must spend at least two years working toward this goal. A homeschooled sophomore, Fote hopes to have the gold medal by the time she graduates.
She began pursuing the award two years ago. Besides the puppet camp, she has gone to Mexico and Trinidad on church mission trips. In Mexico, she helped to build a home for a needy family and taught vacation Bible school to children. In Trinidad, she also taught vacation Bible school in different schools and orphanages, doing skits and playing games with the children on the two-week trip. She also played soccer against high school teams there.
Fote plays soccer on a traveling team, the Clarkston Shadows. She recently sprained her ankle, but has achieved more than half of the number of hours she needs for a gold medal in the physical fitness portion of the Congressional Award.
As a member of a Debate Club, Fote is earning hours in the area of personal development. She is still thinking about what she would like to do for expedition/exploration.
Fote said planning and organizational skills, dedication, self-discipline, persuasion and confidence are some of the things she has learned thus far from trying to achieve her gold medal goal.
‘I think the whole experience will help in everyday life and how much dedication and perseverance it will take,? she said. ‘I wouldn’t trade any of it, even though it’s been hard.?