A L’Anse Creuse High School student has been named 2019 Army Military Child of the Year, along with six other winners.
Elisabeth McCallum Polleys, 16, will receive the 2019 Army Military Child of the Year Award on April 18th in Washington, D.C.
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2019 marks the 11th anniversary of the Military Child of the Year Awards, which each year has provided the extraordinary young recipients with opportunities to be recognized by senior military leaders, elected officials, celebrities, and other remarkable military children. The award reflects the positive impact that these special young people have made on their military families, their schools, and their communities.
Polleys and the six other award recipients will travel to Washington, D.C., to be recognized at the April 18th gala, during which senior leaders of each branch of service will present the awards. Each recipient will also receive $10,000, a laptop computer, and other donated gifts.
Here's more info on Elisabeth:
Elisabeth is the daughter of Army Major Tara McCallum. Elisabeth’s many talents and dedication to service are evident in her range of volunteer activities from appearing on PBS WKAR’s “Curious Crew,” showcasing kids’ hands-on investigation of science, technology, engineering and math; to cleaning up roadside litter and serving dinner to veterans and visiting nursing home patients through Job’s Daughters International. She also has helped with Samaritan’s Purse’s Operation Christmas Child, filling shoe boxes with gifts for children overseas, and organized donation drives for A Rejoyceful Animal Rescue.
At her high school, L’Anse Creuse High School – North, Polleys helps mentor incoming freshmen as a member of Link Crew, and in keeping with one of her aspirations to possibly become an actress, she performs with the Pankow Performing Arts program and the Thespian Troupe. Her school’s associate principal praised her for far exceeding the school’s requirement of 40 community service hours. She has completed over 170 hours.
Polleys even turned her own experience with hardship into service to others. After serious back surgery in 2017 to correct scoliosis that forced her to miss the second half of her freshman year, Polleys became active with Curvy Girls, leading a monthly Detroit support group of eight to 20 young women who may feel alone, different, angry about their brace, and worried about surgery. She encourages them through the physical and emotional pain of the disease.