Sophomore Savannah Solis received the Texas Minority Coalition’s Freedom Award for the 2020 banquet, at Tyler’s Willow Brook Country Club, on Oct 8th. Texas Minority Coalition President Stanley Cofer said this year’s banquet was focused on supporting law enforcement, and Solis received the award based on her service to law enforcement.

Solis began writing thank you cards to law enforcement officers after seeing New York City police officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu killed in a shooting when she was 10 years old. Since then, she has sent over 10,000 thank you cards across the globe. Solis has traveled to other states and outside of the country, speaking at schools, to teach kids about law enforcement.

In July, she released her book titled “She Believed She Could, So She Did” which showcased her journey while educating children about police officers. The proceeds from the book will go toward police-related charitable foundations.

“It’s very impressive for her to be so young and have an admiration for law enforcement as well as realizing that being a first responder requires dedication,” Cofer said.

Over the summer, she and her family take trips to police departments across the country to thank officers for their service. She wants to continue traveling to more states to thank police officers for their work this upcoming summer. For her career, Solis said she wants to go into law enforcement and hopes to become a K-9 officer.

“I just hope I can get my message out to officers and let them know they’re needed, especially now,” said Solis. “I knew I wanted to keep thanking law enforcement, and it just got bigger.”

Solis is also working toward her own foundation, “They Matter to Me”. She wants to create scholarships for kids who have lost a parent in the law enforcement field. Her book is available at stores including Barnes and Noble, Target, and Amazon.