By Megan Alley
Sun Reporter

A Pierce Township teen has been named a 2020 Congressional Award Gold Medal winner.

Sixteen-year-old Joshua Siderits, pictured, of Pierce Township, has been named a 2020 Congressional Award Gold Medal winner. Photo provided.

Sixteen-year-old Joshua Siderits, who is homeschooled and just completed his sophomore year in high school, found out in early March that he had been selected for the honor.

The Congressional Award is the United States Congress’ award for young Americans, and the foundation that supports the program remains Congress’ only charity, according to the Congressional Award website.

Participants earn Bronze, Silver and Gold Congressional Award Certificates and Bronze, Silver and Gold Congressional Award Medals. 

Each level involves setting goals in four program areas: 

— Voluntary Public Service.

— Personal Development.

— Physical Fitness.

— Expedition/Exploration.

Young people may register when they turn 13 1/2 years old and must complete their activities by their 24th birthday.

“The Congressional Award has no minimum grade point average requirements. It accommodates young people with special needs or disabilities who are willing to take the challenge,” reads the website.

Siderits was set to receive his medal at the annual Gold Medal Ceremony in Washington, D.C., though due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the awards ceremony was pushed back to the last week in July. And at that, there’s still no certainty that the ceremony will take place.

This year, Siderits is the only 2020 recipient from Ohio’s 2nd congressional district. He completed 400 volunteer hours, 200 hours of personal development, 200 hours of physical fitness, and a five-day / four-night exploration, all spread across a minimum of 24 months. 

Siderits said that he was inspired to apply for the honor because he wanted to expand his dedication to some of the areas he was already focused on.

He wrote in an email, “When I registered to begin this challenge, two of my extra-curricular activities outside of school were in two of the categories: Physical Fitness and Personal Development. I saw this as an opportunity to creatively stretch myself further in what I was already doing while volunteering in my community and learning about my family heritage through an exploration. The award took me 4.5 years to complete.”

To meet his marks in the physical fitness category, Siderits dived deeper into his martial arts studies.

“I have been a student under Grand Master Don MacFarland at Eastgate Martial Arts Club for 11 years. During the last 4.5 years under his direction, I was promoted to a third degree black belt and became more involved in training the lower belts,” Siderits wrote. “I am still setting goals in taekwondo and am on track to promote to fourth degree black belt in August 2021.”

When it came to personal development, Siderits decided to hone his classical guitar skills. 

“I have studied Classical Guitar under Rod Stucky at the University of Cincinnati CCM Prep for the past 11 years. I had won several awards, but decided to stretch myself further by entering the Parkening International Junior competition,” he wrote. “I dedicated an entire year to practice the repertoire required for submission to the competition. Although not selected as a finalist, the experience and practice definitely caused me to grow as a musician.”

Working towards his public service requirements, Siderits volunteered at Gorman Heritage Farm, Hamilton County Library Anderson branch, Matthew 25 Ministries and the Cincinnati Museum Center.

Siderits’ expedition/exploration involved visiting Austria, from which his paternal grandparents originate. He, accompanied by his parents, visited great aunts, great uncles and many cousins. 

“Although I had been to Austria when I was four years old, I had not been back since.  This trip gave me a true appreciation of my family heritage,” Siderits wrote.

“Pursing this award is a lot or work. It takes years to complete, and the award is intended to take a lot of time,” wrote Siderits. “The satisfaction of creating your own personal goals and completing them is an award within itself, but the added bonus of this recognition for all hard work certainly makes it memorable.”