Radnor Students Earn Congressional Award

The Congressional Award is the United States Congress' award for young Americans who set and achieve goals in volunteer public service, personal development, physical fitness, and expedition/exploration.

In June outgoing Radnor High School senior Christopher Merken and rising senior Evie Cai went to Washington, D.C. for the Congressional Award medal ceremony. Both earned Gold Congressional Award Medals.

They were the first students from Radnor High School ever to earn this award. Participants of the program, which is non-partisan, have years to complete it.

“Traveling to Washington D.C. and meeting other gold medalists from around the country was truly an incredible experience,” Merken said.

There were 246 young adults who earned the award this year, 33 from Pennsylvania. There are more than 40,000 working on the program, he said.

Merken completed the 400 hours of voluntary public service with the Main Line Art Center, Radnor Township Police Department, Bryn Mawr Fire Co., The U.S. Air Force Civil Air Patrol 103rd Squadron and the Radnor Memorial Library, amongst other organizations.

For his 200 hours of personal development, Merken, a Radnor Patch contributor, created his own photography business, became the head of yearbook photography at Radnor High School, and performed in several operas.

For the 200 hours of Physical Fitness, he participated in the annual MS 150 City to Shore Bike Ride, raising money for the National MS Society.

For the Exploration/Expedition, he planned and executed trips to Boston, Portland (Maine), the Grand Canyon and Gettysburg National Military Park. For the Gold Medal trip he traveled to Denmark and Germany for two weeks to immerse himself in the cultures and languages, he told Radnor Patch.

“This is a really special and unique program and I really want to encourage as many kids as possible to get involved with it,” Merken said. “I got to meet former Sen. Alan Simpson, current head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Dr. Francis Collins (who also worked on - and possibly ran - the Human Genome Project), and music icon Doug E. Fresh, best known as the original beat boxer.”