Bridgeport High School junior Calleigh Morgan doesn’t have much free time but she more than makes up for it when it comes to collecting accomplishments.

 

A stellar student-athlete at BHS, Morgan has already had an eventful high school experience. She was a standout track and field athlete her freshman year, a standout wrestler her first two years and is a standout volleyball player for the Indians who will compete in the state tournament for the ninth consecutive year later this week.

 

She has aspirations of being a pilot one day and she is enrolled in the Aerospace Engineering classes offered at BHS under the guidance of Rafe Snell. She’s on the school’s The American Rocketry Competition (TARC) team and is a member of the Civil Air Patrol Chapter (an auxiluary of the U.S. Air Force) in Bridgeport.

 

She also recenlty made some history as a member of Troop 35344 for the Bridgeport Girl Scouts.

 

“I was the first Girl Scout at the Bridgeport group to get the Gold Award,” Morgan said. “A lot of have applied but didn’t get accepted. I applied and got accepted the first try. It’s pretty exciting to be the first one.”

 

The Gold Award is the equivalent of the completetion of an Eagle Scout project in the Boy Scouts and is the highest achievement within the Girl Scouts of the USA. Only 5.4 percent of eligible Girl Scouts successfully earn the Gold Award.

 

To earn the honor, Morgan had to complete 80 hours of community service on a project that helps the community in some fashion.

 

She chose to give the garden owned by WVU Medicine Hospice, located adjacent the VA Hospital parking lot, a fresh new look. Devany Yearsley from WVU Medicine Hospice served as project advisor and offered Morgan guidance during the planning and execution of the project.

 

And to say the garden got a fresh new look, may be understating it.

 

“It was overgrown, there were cigarettes everywhere,” Morgan said. “My idea was to rejuvenate it and install a way to keep the littering under control. That’s what I spent all of my summer on I worked with people from the school, people from WVU Medicine and with my family to make it all happen.

 

“I used to volunterr at the VA Hospital and I would go on walks with my Mom (who works at the VA) on her lunch break and we would see that garden and that sparked the idea for the project and it came to life. I got donations from parents, the volleyball team, I got flowers and plants from their gardens that I could re-purpose.”

 

It was a rewarding experience for Morgan and one where she wasn’t afraid of getting her hands dirty.

 

“I did all the work,” she said. “I called up some of my friends to help with the raking and planting flowers but I did everything. I even painted bird houses by myself, I re-painted signs. It feels great to see the finished product and know that I had a role in making that happen.”

 

Editor's Note: Submitted photos of Calleigh Morgan with her Gold Award (top) and working in the Hospice garden (bottom)