MACON, Ga. — For 18-year-old Dawson Ezzell, it's been a busy 12 months.
"I typically got out about 12:00 every day, I only had one high school class, so I'd either go after that before practice or when baseball wasn't in season, I'd have a couple hours during the day before it was night time."
Between being the captain of his baseball team at Central Fellowship Christian Academy, taking college courses, and graduating in May, he still found a way to work toward a bronze Congressional Award medal.
"It was a big accomplishment to me, it also felt like a relief off my shoulders," he says.
U.S. Congressman Sanford Bishop presented Ezzell with the bronze medal for seven months of hard work.
"You had to have about 100 hours of community service hours, about five or so hours of physical development a week," says Ezzell.
He split his community service between Houston County Animal Control and the Middle Georgia Community Food Bank and stayed overnight with his church youth group for the expedition requirement.
"We did a little expedition spending the night out in the wilderness and still hearing the word of God."
But Ezzell says the help of his family and a mentor kept him in check.
"He would send me plans for some of the things he would be doing and I would review those and look over his goals and what he wanted to get out of the activities he was involved in," says mentor Ryan Byrd.
Byrd, who's a family friend, says his job was to help Ezzell track his hours, but he doesn't take any of the credit.
"I definitely see he's going to go far in life. He has a great future ahead of him," he says.
Ezzell is currently enrolled at Middle Georgia State university and says he plans to get his degree in nursing.
STAY ALERT | Download our FREE app now to receive breaking news and weather alerts. You can find the app on the Apple Store and Google Play.
STAY UPDATED | Click here to subscribe to our Midday Minute newsletter and receive the latest headlines and information in your inbox every day.
Have a news tip? Email news@13wmaz.com, or visit our Facebook page.