Three White House High School (WHHS) students — Z Hanks, Jackson Easter, and Kelea Worthington — have earned prestigious scouting awards for their more than 200 hours of community service.

Z and Kelea were both given the Girl Scout’s Gold Award, while Jackson earned the Boy Scout’s Eagle award. Both honors are the highest given in the Girl Scout and Boy Scout organizations, respectively.

“For me, this award means being someone you can trust or you can go to if you need help,” says Jackson, a WHHS senior and son of Cleverly and Todd Easter.

Merit badges and multiple projects culminated in Jackson establishing a blessing box for a Springfield-area church. Jackson, who plans to become a mechanical engineer, gained a new skill as he learned to lead others toward a common goal.

According to Z, the community projects this trio individually focused on each “address a problem in our community that is self-sustainable in some way, and that relates to problems in other communities.”

For Z, this problem presented itself in a void.

“There really aren’t any public musical theater options in White House,” Z says.

Wanting to study musical composition in college next fall, Z decided to write a musical and facilitate a four-day musical theater camp for 8- to 11-year-olds.  

“There’s this wonderful community in theater that you can’t get anywhere else,” says Z, a senior at WHHS and child of Valery and Jason Hanks.

A more intense project than imagined, Z invested nearly 100 hours “fully tailoring the musical to the difficulties and experiences of the kids participating.” The best part for Z was passing on a love of theater and seeing the participating students grow into their own community after a few short days.

A community Kelea impacted through her project was the Child Development and Care program at White House Middle School. The WHHS junior, the daughter of Liz and Ren Worthington, constructed a sensory room for this special group of middle schoolers. Kelea’s younger brother, Thad, is part of the program and inspired her Gold status project.

“Kelea has a love for her family and community that is tender and precious,” says WHHS teacher Bethany Stepleton.

These students have intentionally fleshed out love of their community through their projects.

The trophies that will not tarnish are the teachable moments along the way — a blessing box that continues to encourage generosity, a musical theater camp that sparked a flame inside six students, and a sensory room that breathes learning and love.

What Jackson, Z, and Kelea are truly celebrating is how they have grown as servant leaders and how their communities have deepened.

Growth is courageously contagious. It takes courage to start something new and even more courage to talk about it.  Now that’s something worth catching!