GREENFIELD — In recent memory, Greenfield Moose Lodge 997 member Isaac Mass cannot remember another time when a high school junior won the Massachusetts Moose Youth Awareness Program competition.
Greenfield High School junior Eden Swasey won the state competition and then earlier this month went on to the international stage to compete in Kenosha, Wis., with other youth members across the country.
“I was just learned how talented, passionate and caring these other people were,” Swasey said about the fellow members she met at the international competition.
Swasey won $1,000 in scholarship money from the state association for her project, “A Recipe for Teamwork,” which worked with elementary school students on how to build team skills. The scholarship is good toward her college or vocation of choice. But for Swasey, who did not place at the international competition, she has another chance to go further in it during her senior year.
“I just feel really inspired to just keep pushing myself,” Swasey said. “The competition was really intense.”
When Swasey was in Wisconsin, in addition to competing and presenting her work, she got to make new friends while going to a Milwaukee Brewers game and on a tour of the Civil War Museum. Greenfield Moose Lodge 997 also gave her $250 of spending money for the trip.
“I’m so proud to be able to represent my state,” Swasey said. “I’ve been so humbled by the experience.”