By Audrey Levine, Staff Writer
Traveling to help church mission projects and for her own experience helped earn Flanders Drive resident Megan Arguell, 17, a Congressional Youth Service Silver Award, but she has her sights on the top award.
Megan received her silver medal from Rep. Leonard Lance, R-7th, Feb 21, and is already planning ahead to picking up the gold medal in June. “It felt pretty good,” she said. “It was a lot of work, but it paid off.”
The award is given out to young people in the country who work to achieve personal goals in public service, personal development and physical fitness.
”Megan is a sharp and dedicated young person who is deserving of this honor,” Rep. Lance said. “She sets a positive example for other young people, and I’m proud of her and impressed by her accomplishments.”
According to Megan, there are six different levels of the program, with bronze, silver and gold certificates and medals awarded. This time, she said, she received a silver medal, and is preparing to receive her gold medal in a ceremony in Washington D.C. in June.
She began working towards the medals when she was about 13-years old. “It’s a lot of work, but it pay off. It’s not a burden, because I enjoyed doing the hours,” she said.
To reach the silver medal level, Megan said, she had to perform a total of 200 hours of voluntary public service, 100 hours of personal development, 100 hours of physical fitness and two consecutive overnights for an expedition.
For part of her public service requirement, Megan said, she joined with the Harlingen Reformed Church, in Belle Mead, on three mission trips to help those less fortunate. In her first trip, to an Indian reservation in South Dakota three years ago. The following year, when she traveled to West Virginia, she helped put the finishing touches on a new house, from building the porch to helping with drywall and draining. Last year, Megan said, she traveled to Maine, where she also helped build a porch.
”It felt really good that we were helping people,” she said. “These were all small projects that we could finish in a week, but we felt good.”
Megan said she also volunteered for several years with the Princeton Small Dog Rescue, helping to arrange the adoptions of dogs.
In the personal development category, Megan said she took sign language classes, design courses, read a lot and spent time broadening her vocabulary.
The physical fitness category was also easy to handle, Megan said, as she joined a nearby gym and spent time using a treadmill and stationary bicycle she had at her home.
The final requirements involved taking trips to different locations, for which Megan said she chose St. John in the Caribbean and several different campgrounds. These expeditions, Megan said, are supposed to allow the students to learn about what goes in to organizing a trip.
”We plan the trip and what we will do, make meals and everything,” she said, of the trips she took with a friend who was also vying for the Congressional Awards.
Over the years, Megan said, she was glad to have had so many different experiences while working to achieve the hours necessary to receive the awards. She said there is so much she does not think she would have done if she had not been part of the program.
”This award brings a lot of good experiences,” Megan said. “I wouldn’t have done any of these things before.”

