Congratulations to Sia Gullapalli ’27, who recently received the Congressional Award, established by the United States Congress in 1979 to honor young people with high achievement in the areas of voluntary personal service, personal development, physical fitness, and expedition/exploration. Sia received a bronze medal, having fulfilled those areas by volunteering at the Novant Health pediatric emergency room, teaching herself graphic design, swimming for both SwimMAC and the Hawks, and traveling to Miami. Each area reinforced another: for example, the street art she saw in Miami at the Superblue art gallery and the Wynwood Walls museum inspired her approach to graphic design.

Sia was honored (alongside fellow Congressional Award recipients and winners of the Congressional App Challenge) at the Charlotte office of Representative Jeff Jackson, shortly before he resigned from Congress to begin his service as North Carolina Attorney General. “He gave us advice for the future,” she reports. That counsel, she says, was not to let other people unduly influence them, because clearly they were already making good choices. 

Well done, Sia!