Amanda McGehee, “a
remarkable and phenomenal young woman!”
By Alannah Allbrett
Though she’s very petite, Amanda McGehee is a young woman of great
stature. She is a congressional medalist, who has earned the bronze, silver, and
gold medals in a government program which, similar to 4-H Clubs, Boy Scouts and
Girl Scouts of America, was formed to help young people realize their own
strengths through volunteer service to others.
As stated on the
congressional award website, “The
Congressional Award is the United States Congress' award for young Americans. It
is non-partisan, voluntary, and non-competitive. The program is open to all 14
to 23 year olds. This is not an award for past accomplishments but
to assist and challenge young people in achieving their own goals.”
Amanda is a native Idahoan,
the only child of Jerry and Kristi McGehee. She grew up being involved in her
church’s AWANA program, which exposed her to the merits of volunteer work at a
young age. Amanda was home schooled until her senior year in high school where
she attended
Amanda first learned about
the congressional award program while reading an advertisement in a home
schooling magazine. At first, she felt a little uncomfortable about recording
volunteer work, as it was truly something she wanted to do in a selfless way.
Her father encouraged her, however, to apply for the program – as she did
volunteer work anyway. She found it was a way for her to stay focused and
achieve goals while helping others.
Amanda was involved in the
Department of Labor’s, Summer Youth Program where she worked for the Clearwater
Hatchery. She swept raceways, fed fish, did landscaping, and painted
at the
satellite facility at
She also organized a two
night tour to
To ‘earn the gold’ she set up
a support camp at Fish Lake, near Pierce, Idaho, to support
conservation officers for the Department
of Fish and Game on a four night outing. The camp was set up as a family campout
with the goal of monitoring people fishing, to help game wardens maintain law
enforcement regulations in the area.
Cindy Jesinger, the Executive
Director of the Congressional Award Council of Idaho, was Amanda’s coach and
mentor in helping her set goals, compile her book of activities, and present her
paperwork in a neat, organized manner in order to achieve medalist standards.
Jesinger said, “Amanda is a
remarkable and phenomenal young woman.” She pointed out that initially, Amanda
was not aware of the extent of the qualifying rules for the Congressional Award.
She learned that many of her volunteer hours were faith-based and could not be
accepted. [All eligible volunteer hours for the program must be addressed to the
community or public at large.] “She just put her head down and got to work
earning more hours,” said Jesinger. “She never got bitter or had a negative
attitude about it; she just worked harder.”
Governor C.L. (Butch) Otter
recognized Amanda’s achievements and appointed her to serve on the,
Serve Idaho: Governor’s Commission for
Service and Volunteerism where she has assisted in several different
volunteer efforts throughout the state.
Amanda is currently studying
to pass the
Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), on her way towards being a doctor. Her
career goal is to be a doctor in the Air Force. Then she believes she might like
to go into family practice, “Because they get to do everything from Pediatrics
to Geriatrics,” she said. If she chooses a speciality, she might like to become
a doctor of osteopathy (D.O.) to work in trauma or pediatrics.
When asked how she possibly
envisions her life, say fifteen years from now, Amanda said she is thinking
about serving on a trauma team in a rural area,
and “hopefully working on an established medical team in Nairobi, Kenya,
Africa.” She said her family, friends and church friends have worked with a
boarding school and orphanage there and, she’s has always “felt pulled in that
direction.”
“Volunteer work,” said
Amanda, “has definitely had a positive impact and opened my eyes to see how I
can help people. It gets me out of my comfort zone and shows me I can have an
impact on the world.” To have accomplished so much at such a young age is truly
inspiring to people of all ages. Congratulations Amanda!
On August 22, Amanda will be
awarded the U.S. President’s Lifetime Volunteer Service Award for 4,000 hours of
volunteer community service.
To learn more about the
history, and how to apply to be a part of the Congressional Award program, visit
their website at: www.congressionalaward.org. Also, visit www.serveidaho.org for
local volunteer opportunities.