By Trisha Scheyer
NkyTribune journalist

Isaac Stricker is a young man who sets goals for himself.

He realized this when he was 11 and joined the Boy Scouts.

“I wasn’t there very long before I realized I would like to become an Eagle Scout one day,” said Stricker, a Burlington resident.

The Eagle Scout level is the highest level of scouting and requires hard work, focus and lots of time.

Stricker felt up to the challenge and he did.

While he was a freshman at Villa Madonna, he learned from a scout friend that the United States Congress offers a series of medals, bronze, silver and gold, to any young person willing to work hard and achieve the goal. rewards.

Congress established these awards in 1979 to draw attention to initiative, achievement and service to young people. The original legislation was bipartisan and was signed into law by President Jimmy Carter and then continued by each president.

Four categories are involved in the medal challenge; volunteer public service, personal development, fitness and expedition/exploration.

Any young person aged 14 to 23 can win the Congress Prize because goals are set based on individual interest, needs and abilities. This is not a competition: each student must win the prize.

To date, more than 9 million hours of service have been contributed to communities across the United States through the Congressional Awards Program. Currently, more than 45,000 young people are registered in the program.

Stricker is one of 732 young people nationwide to receive the gold medal this year, and he said about 3,000 young people get the award each year.

The deadline for the award was March 15, and Stricker was notified in early May. He was unable to attend the ceremony in Washington, D.C., so the medal was sent to his congressman, Thomas Massie, and Bob Porter, from his office, conducted a ceremony at the Boone County Fiscal Court, where executive judge Gary Moore presented the medal. award to Stricker before a special caucus meeting. Porter said this is the first time in Congressman Massie’s term that this medal has been awarded in his district.

“It’s amazing that you did these things, Isaac,” Judge Moore said during the meeting. “I want to congratulate you and let you know how excited I am that a Boone County resident is doing these things, and we are very proud of you.”

The awards process works with other organizations, such as the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, 4H, Americorps NCCC and others.

“I set a goal for the gold medal, so I had to structure 800 hours, 400 hours of community service, 200 hours of what we call personal development and 200 hours of physical conditioning,” he said. -he explained. “Then for the gold medal there is an additional 5 days and four nights exploration, basically a trip that you plan, to experience something new and different.”

For his trip, Stricker planned a family kayaking trip to Pensacola, Florida.

“So we did some sea kayaking on the ocean, and then we did some more kayaking,” he said. “We’ve gone kayaking before, but never like this before. It was very different. The wind was very intense. I had planned it with the weather in mind, but the wind was unexpected. They said it was 10 mph, but I think we battled the wind and tide.

He said he had to develop a very detailed plan and then document all parts of the trip, before and after.

“It was a lot of fun,” Stricker said, reflecting on the trip. “I enjoyed it.”

For personal development, he said he helped develop leaders in the Boy Scouts. There is a program called National Youth Leadership Training which was a week-long, overnight training held at Camp Michaels in Union.

At school, Stricker is the captain of his academic Governor’s Cup team, a team he has been a part of since third grade, but now, as captain, he is responsible for gathering knowledge and developing strategies on how to move teammates. to produce the best results.

He also participated in a program with the Campbell County District Court where he and other students participate in youth court, helping other teens accused of crimes. He said it’s their job to help teens get through the sentencing portion of their court experience.

Stricker is also part of the Villa Madonna cross-country running team, which has helped him meet his fitness requirements. Last weekend, his team placed first in a competition upstate.

One of the projects he is most proud of is the butterfly greenhouse he built at the Boone County Environmental and Nature Preserve across from Central Park. It’s not a little birdhouse on a pole. This house measures 10 feet by 12 feet by 10 feet high.

“You can see it from the road,” he said. “I knew I wanted to build something, leave something behind, and I strongly believe in protecting the environment. This is specifically to attract monarch butterflies as they travel through the area.

Stricker is 17 now, and since he’s a senior in high school, he and his parents are visiting colleges. He said he would like to apply to about 10 colleges. Scholarships are awarded in the spring.

Currently, he thinks he would like to become a lawyer, but engineering and business are also vying for his attention.

Stricker hopes his actions will inspire others. His mother said his brother Ethan looked up to him, but Stricker knows he’s also a role model for others, and he likes that, even if what he accomplished was something he personally wanted to do.

Throughout his journey, Stricker was able to seek advice from people, whether it was his parents, friends or scout leaders, help he appreciated. He had to have people testify about the things he accomplished to get this award.

“We were honored to facilitate the presentation of the Gold Medal to Isaac, which he received from Representative Massie and the United States Congress,” Judge Moore said. “It’s clear he has a very bright future ahead of him and we can’t wait to see everything that’s in store for him.”

The future indeed looks promising for Isaac Stricker. He’s just getting started, and with a mindset like his of always striving to do his best and make the world a better place, he’ll go far.

One of the paragraphs in the explanatory part of the awards states that the necessary qualifications that apply to the Stricker person are:

“Recipients of the Congressional Awards represent the best of America. They don’t necessarily have the greatest athletic or academic achievements. They just need to commit to improving themselves and giving back to their local communities. It is the making and fulfillment of this commitment that makes these young people so extraordinary.