Stephen Baird loves to give and help in any way he can.
After over 700 hours of service, the Hancock resident has earned a Congressional Award Gold Medal, the Congressional Award program’s highest honor.
To earn this prestigious recognition, Baird demonstrated public service, personal development, physical fitness (he has learned skiing and archery), and exploration.
For the exploration part of the project, he journeyed to Gettysburg National Park, an experience he wrote, “underscores the tremendous loss of life caused by war.”
For Baird, the awards and traveling are only a small part of the satisfaction.
“I loved it,” he said of the volunteer work he has done. “I truly loved it.”
Baird has been a part of the program since he was 14 years old, working with mentor Maria Szmauz.
She echoed his sentiment: “It was always clear that he enjoyed every part of it.”
She is program director at School Kids in Peterborough (SKIP). Baird did much of his work with that organization, including his Eagle Scout Project.
“I didn’t have to give Stephen a lot of direction,” she said. “I can’t say anything but good things.”
Baird’s volunteer service at SKIP underscores everything he’s accomplished. As a younger child, Szmauz said, he attended the program.
Now, she says he has a special relationship with the children with special needs.
When asked about Baird, Szmauz called him “Sir Stephen,” and said that the kids at SKIP call him “Big Stephen.”
He oversaw construction of a sandbox, outdoor music center, trash corral and garden as part of his Eagle Scout project.
The Congressional Award Gold Medal is not Baird’s first formal recognition.
Through the Congressional Award program, he had already received three certificates and Bronze and Silver Medals.
Though he was often home schooled, he was selected to speak at his high school commencement this month at Concord’s Capital Center for the Arts. He said this honor was purely personal, since he was not a class president or valedictorian. It was on his individual strengths that he was chosen to be a voice for his class.
He was also selected to take part in the American Legion’s New Hampshire Boys State at Rivier University in Nashua in 2015.
Baird is spending his summer as a lifeguard and camp counselor, and will be taking a few college classes around the area before enrolling full time somewhere the following academic year.
“I’m taking a gap year, taking some classes, touring schools,” he said.
He is taking part in a nine-day overseas trip through New England College.
The satisfaction of community service comes immediately for Stephen Baird, and he was honored to be recognized for the time he has given.
He said, “At first it was a small amount of hours, but it increased in hours and the effort I truly had to put in.”