DAR announces essay winners

American History Essay Contest winners for 2015 are Haley Bart, Ruby McLaughlin, Blake Williams, Olive Graves-Smith, Jimmy Shields, Max Ruiz, Ellie Koehn, Olive Mills-Borchers and E. J. Davis (not pictured).

DAR Good Citizens Awards for 2015 went to Alyssa Lopez, Jaimie Erker, Trevor Bane, Jenna Anderson (not pictured), and Meghan McCarron (not pictured)

By Kristine Scott

Daughters of the American Revolution

The Longs Peak Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution held their annual Patriotic Tea on Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015, at the 17th Street Events Center. The tea honors the nine winners of the American History Essay contest, two winners of the Christopher Columbus Essay contest, five DAR Good Citizens seniors selected by their high schools, and the DAR Good Citizen Scholarship Essay winner for 2015. Honored guests at the Patriotic Tea were the students, parents, families, their teachers and two members of the St. Vrain Valley School District board of education. The readers who judged this year's essays are Leland Linder, Jeannette Allen, Shauna Scott, Phoebe Dooley and Hallie Sawyer.

The American History essay contest is open fifth through eighth grades. All essays must include a title and bibliography page. Fifth-graders write 300 to 600 words; sixth- through eighth-graders write between 600 and 1,000 words. This year's topic was "A Child's Journey through Ellis Island. How would you describe your experience to your cousin who has never heard of Ellis Island?"

At the fifth-grade level, students participated in the essay contest from Longmont Estates Elementary and Apex Homeschool Enrichment Program. The following fifth-graders won. First place winner Ellie Jo Koehn from Apex Homeschool Program received a certificate, bronze history medallion and monetary award. Ellie also won the Colorado State American History Contest and will be honored at the State Conference in late April. She is the daughter of Stephanie Koehn of Broomfield. Second place winner Haley Bart from Longmont Estates Elementary was awarded a certificate and monetary award. She is the daughter of James and Kristine Bart of Longmont. Third place winner Olive Graves-Smith from Longmont Estates Elementary was awarded a certificate and monetary award. She is the daughter of Robert Smith and Melissa Graves.

Sixth-grade winners were first place winner Ruby McLaughlin from Apex Homeschool Enrichment Program, who was awarded a certificate, bronze history medallion and $50. Ruby also won the Colorado State essay contest and will be honored at the state conference in late April. She is the daughter of Christopher McLaughlin of Loveland. Second place winner E. J. Davis from Apex Homeschool Enrichment Program received a certificate and a monetary award. E. J. is the son of Jennifer Davis of Firestone. Third place winner Blake Williams of Apex Homeschool Enrichment Program received a certificate and monetary award. Blake is the son of Ranelle Williams of Longmont.

The seventh-grade first place winner is Jimmy Shields from Apex Homeschool Enrichment Program. He was awarded a certificate, a bronze history medallion and a monetary award. Jimmy is the son of Richard and Elizabeth Shields of Longmont.

In eighth grade, first place winner Max Ruiz from Apex Homeschool Enrichment Program was awarded a certificate, bronze history medallion and monetary award. Max is the son of Carrie Ruiz of Longmont. Second place winner Olivia Mills-Borchers from Apex Homeschool Enrichment Program was awarded a certificate and monetary award. She is the daughter of George and Kim Mills of Gill.

NSDAR and The National Italian American Foundation sponsor the annual Christopher Columbus Essay Contest for high school students. This essay requires 800 to 1200 words with both a title page and a bibliography page. This year the topic was "Joining Christopher Columbus on His Voyage to the New World." The winner of the Christopher Columbus Essay Contest is 10th-grader Courtney Smoljan of Niwot High School. She was awarded a certificate and monetary award. Courtney is the daughter of Dave and Michelle Smoljan of Longmont. Runner-up is Megan Brady, a homeschool 10th-grader. She received a certificate. Megan is the daughter of Ann Brady of Longmont.

The DAR Good Citizen Award is open to high school seniors and recognizes individuals who possess good citizenship qualities of dependability, service, leadership, and patriotism in their homes, schools and communities. They are selected by their schools. They participate in a proctored, two-hour essay contest for a scholarship. One essay is selected to represent the Chapter Good Citizen Scholar.

They are awarded a certificate, a wallet card, a memorial pin and an explanation of the symbolism of the pin. Patty Strecker, a Good Citizen award winner from 1962, awarded these seniors their packets for 2015. This year's essay question was "Our American Heritage and Our Responsibility for Preserving It. Winners were Meghan McCarron of Frederick High School, the daughter of Jeff and Shelly McCarron; Jenna Anderson of Lyons Middle/Senior School, daughter of Roger and Dawn Anderson; Alyssa Lopez of Mead High School, daughter of Derek and Paula Lopez; and Trevor Bane of Silver Creek High, son of James A. Bane. The Good Citizen Scholarship winner is Jaimie Erker of Skyline High School, daughter of Dennis and Cindy Erker of Longmont.