National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution’s mission is to promote historic preservation, education and patriotism. These ideals were in evidence Saturday as Dorothy Q Chapter honored three local high school seniors.
This year the Dorothy Q Chapter recognized award winners, Gabriel J. Little from Southmont, Teegan D. Bacon from North Montgomery and Jacob N. Burke from Crawfordsville. The overall essay contest winner is Little. His essay will continue on to state level.
Each year Indiana DAR and the Dorothy Q Chapter invites the three county high schools to name their good citizens for participation. Each student must compose an original 500-word essay title. This year the topic was “Our American Heritage and Our Responsibility for Preserving It,” with a focus question: “How do the combined actions of so many good citizens keep our nation moving forward?”
Only one student is selected from each of the county high schools for the DAR Good Citizen Award, and only one student per year may be honored as a school’s DAR Good Citizen. Each senior winner receives a patriotic tote bag with a monetary gift from the chapter, a DAR Good Citizen lapel pin, a certificate and wallet recognition card.
The DAR Good Citizens Award and Scholarship Contest intent is to encourage and reward high school seniors who possess the qualities of good citizenship. This award recognizes these students who demonstrate outstanding qualities in their homes, schools and communities by dependability (truthfulness, loyalty and punctuality), service (cooperation, courtesy and consideration of others), leadership (personality, self-control and ability to assume responsibility) and patriotism (unselfish interest in family, school, community and nation).
The Good Citizens Committee was started in 1936, with 10 area high school seniors who participated from Montgomery County. Since then, we have had several from Montgomery County who have been included in the top 13 at the state level.
“It was a privilege to have had such an incredible group of high school seniors for this year’s Good Citizen award program,” said Melody Davis, the Dorothy Q Chapter Good Citizen Award Program chair. “Being chosen for the DAR Good Citizen Award is a wonderful reflection of each student. It indicates the efforts they made in writing an essay and demonstrating outstanding qualities of what they believe in and what they hold dear.”
