Larson Presents West Hartford Youth with Congressional Medals

HARTFORD -- Congressman John B. Larson (CT-01) awarded West Hartford's Eric Pagett with bronze and silver Congressional Medals this morning in recognition of his commitment to enhancing the quality of life within his community and beyond.

"Eric Pagett represents the best qualities of the first congressional district's youth," Congressman Larson said. "His tireless work helping others made him an obvious and much-deserving recipient of a gold, silver and bronze congressional medal. I am so proud of Eric and am confident that he will go on and achieve great things."

The Congressional Award is a non-partisan, non-competitive and voluntary program open to young men and women aged 14-23 that looks to recognize excellence in the areas of voluntary public service, personal development, physical fitness and expedition/exploration.

After earning a Congressional gold Medal in June at a ceremony in Washington, today Eric was awarded silver and bronze medals for his hundreds of hours he volunteered in his community mentoring a special-needs student and raising money and doing work for students in Grenada.

"The Congressional Award is a great program for youth to engage with," Pagett said. "It's not a traditional thing for high school and college students to participate in. It doesn't take extraordinary effort, it's just ordinary people doing simple things to help others that makes it extraordinary."

This year 246 young men and women received gold medals – Eric was the only recipient from Connecticut.

Eric is 21 years old and entering his senior year at Principia College in St. Louis, Missouri.