Nahoula Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution is proud to recognize the Good Citizen winners of local high schools. Participating schools were Laurel High School, Laurel Christian High School, Northeast Jones High School, and West Jones High School. The student selected as the school’s DAR Good Citizen must have the qualities of dependability, service, leadership, and patriotism. The Good Citizens this year are Claire Douglas of Laurel Christian School, A’London Milsap of Laurel High School, Lexi Berlin of Northeast Jones High School, and Bayne White of West Jones High School.
The students selected as the school’s winner may enter the local scholarship contest and write a timed essay under the supervision of a school administrator. The essay is judged by three non-DAR members. This year’s essay title was “Our American Heritage and Our Responsibility for Preserving It.” The focus question was as follows: “You and your peers are our nation’s leaders of tomorrow. How would you energize America’s youth to fully engage as effective citizens? Why is that important?”
Bayne White - West Jones
The overall winner of the scholarship contest is Bayne White of West Jones. Bayne is the son of Crystal White and Christopher Allen. The following is an excerpt from Bayne’s essay:
“Becoming an effective citizen requires a wide variety of skills that many people lack. It falls on today’s youth as well as older generations of American citizens to engage the youth and provide them with the tools they need to be able to function as an effective part of our society… Positive reinforcement and consistent encouragement will provide the youth with a sense of pleasure when engaging as a citizen. America’s youth should be provided with the appropriate skills to be effective as citizens, and then they should be encouraged to apply those skills in their young and adult lives.”
The other finalists also expressed excellent ideas in their essays and are presented alphabetically by school.
Claire Douglas - Laurel Christian School
From Laurel Christian School, Claire Douglas, daughter of Lisa Chancellor and Kevin Douglas, describes the privileges Americans should not take for granted:
“I would first like to express how amazing the privileges and rights we’ve been given are. There are so many places in the world where people do not get a say in how the country they live in is run, or they do not get many of the same freedoms and advantages we have. ... Complacency is no way to live a life. ... The complacent ones need to gain an understanding of their privilege and use that privilege to lift others up.”
A'london Milsap - Laurel High School
Laurel High School’s A’london Milsap, daughter of Eric Milsap, describes the importance of her role giving support and encouragement to her peers:
“I would start by telling them that their dreams matter. ...
I will energize my peers by telling them ‘the sky is the limit’ and ‘there is always a chance for success.’ Who’s to say what a person can do or be? I will help my peers by being there for them, giving them support and encouraging words. I’m willing to tell everyone in this world something positive or encouraging at the best and the worst times. Most people don’t realize that doing the smallest things will make the biggest impact in someone else’s life.”
Lexi Berlin - Northeast Jones
Northeast Jones Good Citizen, Norma “Lexie” Berlin, daughter of Robin Berlin and Donald Berlin, emphasizes the connection between young people’s involvement in their own community and their American citizenship:
“Let all the youth know that they do not exist in a vacuum: the choices they make as citizens of this country affect them, affect their inner circles, affect the communities in which they live. If this is known, and lived by, then the efforts they make to engage with our nation will be filled with the same passion and can lead to nothing but greater times for all of us.”
Nahoula Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution is proud of these students. They all truly exemplify Good Citizens. The Nahoula DAR Good Citizen Committee Chairmen are Robbie Troyka and Susan Blackledge.