AHS Senior Earns Abigail Adams Award
Ames High Senior Julia Bennett was recently awarded the Abigail Adams Award from local American Heritage Girls (AHG) Troop IA 2016. Similar to the Eagle Scout Award from Boy Scouts of America, this recognition represents the culmination of several years of preparation and community service.
“I started attending American Heritage Girls in 2016. I was part of the original group of girls for Troop IA2016” said Bennett.
To earn the award, Bennett completed badges across a diverse set of subject areas. The final step was an extensive community service project which she completed recently.
“The biggest hurdle for the award is the service project,” said Bennett. “The participant must plan and implement a community outreach project with a combination of over 25 service hours.”
For her project, Bennett planned, organized, and coordinated all logistics to prepare and distribute 150 freezer meals for local families and organizations in need. This included everything from selecting the recipes, to getting donations, and directing volunteers. According to Bennett, she began her project by emailing different organizations that might have needs she could fill. The option that stuck out to her was the chance to provide dozens of freezer meals through a local church.
“In order to complete the project, I had to go through 3 different stages of planning,” adds Bennett. “The entire process took me 31 hours to complete.”
Bennett is the second member of AHG Troop IA2016 to earn the Abigail Adams Award. Earlier this year, junior Kaylee McClure completed the award with a project at Ames Family Dental to benefit local veterans.
“Julia has been in our troop for seven years, and I am so proud of her growth as a leader and an engaged community member,” said Troop Coordinator, Kara Warme. “Her project addressed a critical need of hunger in our community and I love that she used the project to expose other young people to this need and ways that they can get involved and help.”
Both Bennett and McClure will now pursue the Stars & Stripes Award, a further achievement available in AHG, which requires a community service and leadership project of at least 100 hours.
“AHG teaches us to be compassionate, honest, responsible, and many other qualities while being service minded,” said Bennett.
Best wishes to these Ames High students who showcase #AmesHighPride.