WESTFIELD-Mikayla Steele was one of 373 young people across the country who recently “earned” the highest honor Congress bestows upon a youth civilian – The Congressional Award Gold Medal.
Steele was joined by her parents, Rev. Jason S. Steele and Sandra Steele, and her adviser, Jen Lavoine, on June 21 during the award ceremony in the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center’s Congressional Auditorium in Washington, D.C. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer served as Master of Ceremonies as members of the Senate and House presented their constituents with the award. U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Springfield, presented Steele with her award.
Mikayla Steele of Westfield, center, receives a Congressional Award Gold Medal from Paxton Baker, chairman of The Congressional Award Foundations’ Board of Directors, and U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, at the Capitol Visitor Center’s Congressional Auditorium in Washington, D.C. on June 21. (Submitted photo)
“I was thrilled to be in DC last week to congratulate Mikayla Steele from Westfield for winning the Congressional Gold Medal Award,” said Neal. “It is so important to recognize young adults of her caliber who are doing such great work in their communities. They are the future and I am happy to promote their success.”
For a minimum of two years, each gold medalist logs at least 800 hours across four program areas – voluntary public service, personal development, physical fitness and expedition/exploration. The 2017 Gold Medal class was the largest in the program’s 38-year history – representing 178,384 service hours, 164,534 fitness hours, 3,357 days of exploration, 408,362 development hours, and 175 youth-service organization partners.
Mikayla Steele of Westfield was among 373 young people across the country who recently received The Congressional Award Gold Medal – which included bronze and silver medals.
Established by Congress as a public-private partnership in 1979 under Public Law 96-114, the program encourages and recognizes initiative, service, and achievement in youth ages 14 to 23. As participants successfully achieve their goals, they earn bronze, silver, and gold certificates and medals.
After observing her sister Cassandra’s perseverance in earning the gold medal in 2015, Steele was all in.
“We were more surprised she wanted to pursue it since it seemed like a daunting task,” said Rev. Steele during a recent morning interview in their home on Gloria Drive.
Steele noted that once she discovered what she was “passionate” about, setting goals on ways to enrich her community and better herself fell into place.
With several members of her family touched by cancer – her first project under “volunteer public service” – was creating caps for women who had experienced hair loss since two of her aunts and her great-grandmothers had experienced breast cancer.
Mikayla Steele knitted 50 caps for Knots of Love to benefit individuals who lost their hair due to cancer as part of more than 400 volunteer public service hours. (Submitted photo)
“I raised funds to purchase soft, bamboo yarn, organized a knitting event at Christ The King Church on Russell Road, and knitted more than 50 caps,” said Steele, noting that after several local organizations did not choose to accept the caps, she reached out to the national organization, Knots of Love.
“The knitting event included my friends and church members who wanted to learn how to knit,” she said, noting she was able to send 62 caps in all to Knots of Love.
“The organization provides caps to women at the D’Amour Cancer Center in Springfield so we requested if possible to forward the caps there,” she added.
For her “personal development” program, she learned to play the guitar by watching YouTube videos as well as receiving musical lessons and tips from Jeff Lavoine, a team leader at Christ The King Church. Trained as a classical pianist, Steele is also proficient at playing drums, djembe, bass, ukulele, mandolin and flute.
“The guitar is a different type of instrument,” she said, adding that once she learned the basic chords she was comfortable playing.
“I am now skilled enough to play in my church praise team as one of the guitarists,” she said.
Congressional Award Gold Medal winner Mikayla Steele of Westfield is seen with her adviser, Jen Lavoine, in Washington, D.C. (Submitted photo)
Because of a physical disability at birth, Steele chose to use the “physical fitness” portion of the award to gain more mobility in her arm. Her physical therapy sessions were conducted at Rehab Resolutions in West Springfield and she was also diligent at home with her exercises.
“In doing this, I was also able to gain some strength that I have never had,” she said, noting her newfound ability allows her to properly play the guitar.
The last portion of the award, “expedition/exploration,” took her a few miles from home – to Coggin Creek Stables on Granville Road. For five days, she was immersed in the life of a horse farmer.
“I lived and worked without pay during the coldest week of the year, while learning from the owner how to care for the animals and run a farm,” she said.
Chores included feeding and watering 20 horses twice a day, cleaning the stalls, moving hay bales, and shadowing Brenda Coggin which included watching horseback riding lessons.
“I always wanted to have my own horse farm,” said Steele, adding the experience was “different” from what she expected.
“I enjoyed the experience and have a greater appreciation of farm life,” she said.
Throughout the two-year process, Steele also reported to her adviser, Jen Lavoine, who had also assisted her sister years before.
“I have been a close family friend and fellow church member for the last decade,” said Lavoine. “I’ve watched both women grow into mature Christian leaders. When they needed an adviser to go through the congressional award process, I was more than happy to help in this small way.”
Lavoine’s adviser role included assisting Steele to set goals and encourage her during the process.
“You do not receive a gold medal congressional award easily,” said Lavoine. “You must work hard, surpass obstacles and ultimately earn the award by meeting the rigorous requirements demanded of such an honor. I was so proud to watch Mikayla serving others with genuine joy. Our future generation is bright and so full of compassion. I can’t wait to continue to watch her flourish.”
Sandra Steele left a law practice years ago to home school her daughters and is proud of what they have both accomplished over the years.
“We are trying to instill a lifestyle of public service and helping people,” she said.
Steele, now at 17, is a senior and has also been taking courses at Holyoke Community College for the past year. She has been accepted at the Bob Jones University in South Carolina with a major in music education and a minor in theater. Her future plans include teaching students in high school and ultimately sharing her love for music at the college level.
“Earning the Congressional Gold Medal Award has been the first step into a lifelong journey of serving others and being a vital citizen in this wonderful nation,” said Steele.
