Photo By Maj. Joseph Trovato | Lt. Col. Gerald Eastman, of the Wisconsin National Guard's Service Member Support...... read more read more
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MILWAUKEE - The Wisconsin Army National Guard honored its 2013 Thomas E. Wortham IV Achievement Award recipient in front of thousands of fans at the Milwaukee Bucks game Nov. 9.
Spc. Travis Laprise, of Stevens Point, Wis., joined his family, fellow Soldiers from the Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.-based Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Battalion, 120th Field Artillery, and the family of the late 1st Lt. Thomas Wortham IV, for the game where he was awarded the prestigious medal.
Thousands of service members and veterans were on hand for the award ceremony and the game between the Bucks and Dallas Mavericks at the BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee as the Bucks honored Veterans Day.
Laprise, currently enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point studying to be an English teacher, earned the award for his extensive community service. In addition to being a full-time student and a soldier in the Wisconsin Army National Guard, Laprise volunteers with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, where he mentors a local child. He also volunteers his time in the child's English classroom at Ben Franklin Junior High School in Stevens Point.
"It's just to let the kids know that there is always someone they can talk to in case there is something happening at home that they can't talk about," he said. "It's been pretty awesome just being able to be there for the kids in the community."
The new Wortham Award recipient actively supports the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the March of Dimes, and volunteers at the Wisconsin Lions Camp in Rosholt, Wis., where he works with adults and children with special needs.
"It's just an awesome place where these populations get to come and have fun without anyone staring at them or talking behind their backs," Laprise said of the Lions Camp. "It just gives them a better sense of themselves, I'd say. As a counselor, or volunteer that worked there, you come to a new appreciation for people with special needs, and you just come to appreciate what you have more just by being there."
Asked why serving his community was so important to him, Laprise — who moved around the country as the son of career soldier — said, "Being an Army brat, I moved around everywhere, so I just kind of set up home wherever I could as fast as I could, because I didn't know how long I was going to be there. So when I came to Wisconsin, I knew that I really wanted to make it my own."
When he enrolled in college in Stevens Point, Laprise found a bounty of volunteer opportunities offered by the university, and he was soon off to work.
Laprise's community-driven spirit embodied the legacy left behind by the late 1st Lt. Thomas E. Wortham IV, who served as a Chicago police officer and Soldier in the Wisconsin Army National Guard's Troop A, 1st Squadron, 105th Cavalry. Wortham, who deployed twice to Iraq and earned the Combat Infantryman's Badge and the Bronze Star Medal, was active in his Southside Chicago neighborhood. He vigorously promoted community policing, youth involvement, and crime prevention initiatives.
Wortham was murdered outside his parents' home May 19, 2010, during an armed robbery in Chicago. The Wisconsin National Guard created the award in his honor and has presented it annually to a soldier or airman that exemplifies his legacy of community service.
"I am very honored that they do give the award every year, and I'm honored that there are such good community-aware soldiers who do what they do," said Thomas Wortham III, the father of the award's namesake. "I'm just amazed every year when I meet a new awardee. All the community involvement that they have with being a soldier and doing all the things that they do. It just amazes me. I'm just so proud to meet these young men."
Wortham and his wife Carolyn, as well as well as their daughter, Sandra, and 1st Lt. Wortham's fiancée, Caitlin Waldhart and her family, joined the Laprise family for the game and the award presentation ceremony.
"I know he would be pleased to meet each one of these young men," Wortham III said of the award's recipients. "He would tell them how much he appreciates what they are doing. If this continues on, [his legacy] will live forever. It will never die."
"That's what the world needs," he added. "The world needs more people like that."
| Date Taken: | 11.09.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 11.12.2013 16:42 |
| Story ID: | 116617 |
| Location: | MILWAUKEE, WI, US |
| Hometown: | STEVENS POINT, WI, US |
| Web Views: | 164 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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