Silver Garlands return: More than 40 years later, congressman reflects on influence of award
It’s found a home on his desk in Lakeland, at his office at Disney World, and even in the halls of power in Washington, D.C.
Not bad for a little Silver Garlands civics award. Today, the Silver Garlands program is the longest running and most prestigious service award program for high school seniors in Polk County. Applications are currently being taken at visitcentralflorida.org/silver-garlands-awards/ until Dec. 9.
“I was vice-president of the student government association at Lakeland High School,” said former Congressman Dennis Ross, who served the Lakeland area from 2011-2019 and took home the very first Silver Garland award in the Citizenship category in 1977. “My project as vice president was to convince both the administration and student body to get some normalcy back to the school environment through clubs. We were finally moving on from a difficult period of integration in the 1970s, and it was what we were trying to do to return some camaraderie in the school.”
From 2021: The Ledger's 45th annual Silver Garland Awards presented online
The winners: Meet The Ledger's 2021 Silver Garland Award winners
Silver Garlands encompasses 13 categories: Aerospace, Art, Athletics, Citizenship, Communications, Computer Science, English/Literature, Foreign Language, Mathematics, Music, Performing Arts, Science and Vocational/Technology. Preparing students for a life beyond the classroom, applicants are interviewed by a team of judges who work in that field and wish to recognize the student who best served their school and their community.
To Ross, a major influence on where he is today was winning that first Silver Garlands award in civics.
“It made a major difference in my life when my community recognized me for leadership activities, which prompted me to want to do more as I went into college and my profession,” Ross said. “It even helped fuel my desire to go into politics.”
Ross is a professor in the political science program at Southeastern University and the director of the American Center for Political Leadership on the school’s Lakeland campus.
“Communities need to nurture the leaders of the next generation,” Ross said. “We focus on sports, the arts, STEM, but we need to focus on good community leaders and statesmen. Silver Garlands recognizes that in every facet, and has an impact on students.”
The awards were started in 1977 by The Ledger as a way to honor and promote community service. Run by the newspaper since its inception, the program took a one-year hiatus last school year. This is the first year that the Silver Garlands awards program has been administered by Polk County Tourism and Sports Marketing.
“When we were approached by our partner, The Ledger, to administer the program we jumped at the opportunity,” said Mark Jackson, the director of PCTSM. “Tourism is one of the leading industries in the state, not just the county. When it comes to students like this, we’re selfish. We want them to return to Polk and continue their contributions to society here so we can benefit from having these quality people live, work and grow here.”
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: After 1-year hiatus, Silver Garland Awards return for high school seniors
