EDENTON — The Edenton Tea Party Chapter, NSDAR, recognized area students from local schools during their annual American History Awards luncheon. The award presentation took place Feb. 11 at St. Anne Catholic Church Parish Hall with over 40 in attendance. Judges for this year’s essays were Sally Francis Kehayes, Jay Henn and Earl Willis.
Each year, the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution sponsors the American History Essay contest. Local Chapters are encouraged to engage local schools and students in composing essays on a preselected topic. The topic of the essay changes each year and this year the national topic was “If you could have lunch with any signer of the Declaration of Independence, who would you select and why”. Essay writers were requested to compose essays based on this topic. Linda Davenport serves as the Chair for the American History Essay.
The American History Essay Contest is issued to Grades 5 through 8. This year, 30 students participated in this year’s essay contest across six schools and two homeschool programs.
This year’s fifth grade award recipient was Grady Sweeney, a student at Hertford Grammar School and the son of Caroline and Jason Sweeney. Grady was also the recipient of the District 8 Award, competing against winners of the 14 chapters in District 8 in North Carolina DAR. The subject of Grady’s essay was Samuel Adams.
The 7th grade essay finalist was Violet Pollock. Violet is the daughter of Sam and Sarah Pollock of Hertford. The subject of Violet’s essay was John Hancock.
The 8th grade recipient was Lilli Wells, who attends Lawrence Academy and is the daughter of Michelle and Tommy Wells. The subject of Lilli’s essay was John Adams.
The Good Citizen Essay contest is issued to qualifying high school Juniors and is selected by the Faculty and Guidance Counseling program at John A. Holmes High School. The Good Citizen Award recipient also receives the Margaret A. Holmes Scholarship, an endowed scholarship awarded each year by the Edenton Tea Party Chapter.
This year, Ava Bunch was selected as the Good Citizen Award recipient. Ava is the daughter of Dawn and Adam Bunch. Her essay was entitled “Our American Heritage and our Responsibility for Preserving It”. Caroline Butler serves as the Chair of the Good Citizen Award.
The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a women’s service organization whose members can trace their lineage to an individual who contributed to securing American independence during the Revolutionary War. Today’s DAR is dynamic and diverse, with over 185,000 members in 3,000 chapters in the United States and abroad. DAR members annually provide millions of hours of volunteer service to their local communities across the country and world. DAR chapters participate in projects to promote historic preservation, education, and patriotism. Over one million members have joined the organization since its founding in 1890.
If you are interested in learning more about DAR membership, contact Bonnie Henn, Chapter Regent, at bonnie.henn.dar@gmail.com
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