Congratulations to senior Abraham Velasquez who received the Sheriff’s Youth Service Medal of Honor on November 9, 2015. He was the only one from Phoenix Military Academy to receive this award.

“The reason why I got the medal was because I have 359 service learning hours, which counting 150 made this summer,” said Velasquez.

The award was given at Moraine Valley Community College to over one hundred students. Only ten students were from Chicago Public Schools and Vasquez was the only one from Cook County.

“Tobias had to pick whoever matched the service learning requirements. Then I had to write a one hundred word essay on why and what I did to get those hours,” said Velasquez.

After getting an acceptance letter, Vasquez was able to participate in the award ceremony wearing his class A uniform to represent his school. Congratulations again to Vasquez!