Veronica Tadross, ’21 recently became one of seventeen young adults in New York State to be awarded the 2021 Congressional Award Gold Medal.
The Congressional Award Gold Medal is the United States Congress’s highest award for young Americans. Each year, the award is given to a few hundred young people across the United States in recognition of their exemplary achievement in Voluntary Public Service, Physical Fitness, Personal Development, and Exploration.
Veronica has attended Kellenberg Memorial since sixth grade and began working to achieve this award in her freshman year of high school. She self-learned Arabic using educational tapes, cross-trained to increase her biking endurance, and volunteered over 400 hours at Eastern Long Island Hospital, Parker Jewish Institute, and Community Action Southold Town in under two years. Serving sick and low-income people and learning about public health procedures, Veronica developed relationships with her supervisors to validate her progress on the project. For the project’s Exploration component, she traveled to Morocco to learn about women’s political and social rights.
By July 2020, Veronica had completed 400 hours of community service, 200 of Personal Development, 200 of Physical Fitness, and a five-night trip to Morocco, earning the award which she will formally receive in July.
The Congressional Award recognizes students’ efforts through their Bronze, Silver, and Gold Medals. Receiving the highest honor of the Gold Medal, Veronica will be traveling to Washington D.C. in July to receive her award. This fall she will be studying Public Policy at Vanderbilt University.