Straughn High School’s Character in Action Award winner for the month of March, Emmy Rabren, said that she loves to give back to the community.

“I volunteer a lot with the elementary school here at Straughn and it feels really good to give back to them,” Rabren said. “Because I remember whenever I was in elementary school, I would look up to the princesses that were in Cookies with Characters or the cheerleaders at the high school that would come down and spend time with us in the classroom.”

Rabren said that it means the world to her to inspire the younger generation.

“If I can make a little girl feel the same way that I did when I was in elementary school, then it means a lot to me,” Rabren said. “Because I remember when the older kids would come talk to me and I felt like they were so famous.”

Along with volunteering with Meredith’s Miracles and as a youth league cheer coach, Rabren is also heavily involved in the pageant circuit, with her platform being epilepsy awareness.

She said that she chose her platform after having babysitting a child with epilepsy.

“I had to learn the signs and be prepared for the worst that could happen,” Rabren said. “So I looked more into it and it became really interesting for me.”

All seizures are not the same, so Rabren said that is the biggest challenge.

“Not every seizure is what you think of when you think of a seizure,” Rabren said. “Like the little girl I babysit, she doesn’t have full on seizures, she could just be staring into blank space and she’ll kind of fall out of touch with what’s around her.”

She hopes her platform heightens awareness of the disease.

“This is something that when I found out what it really was, I knew that I wanted to educate other people on it,” Rabren said. “That way I can fight for her and stand up for her. People just don’t know that this is actually a problem, they just think that these people have full on seizures on the floor, but that is not the case 100 percent of the time.”

Rabren plans to attend the University of Alabama in the fall to pursue a degree in civil engineering, but she still plans to volunteer as much as she can.

“I definitely hope that I can keep volunteering because I do love it,” Rabren said. “I really want to be able to volunteer at the local elementary schools because I love kids. I’m sure I can find somebody with some connections so I can be able to do that.”

Rabren is the daughter of Doug and Kim Rabren.

The Covington County Children’s Policy Council sponsors the Character in Action Award on a monthly basis for students at Straughn High School to students who display exceptional character. Examples of exceptional character include: helping a fellow student in need, displaying kindness to someone who is hurting, cutting an elderly neighbor’s grass, planning a fundraiser for a needy family, volunteering at the nursing home, etc.

Rabren also received $50 as part of the award.