St. Luke’s Episcopal Day School students receive state DAR awards
The John Percifull Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution recently awarded certificates to Phyllis Boulton’s first- and second-grade students and Brenda Sanders’ kindergarten class. All of these students participated in the Junior American Citizens contest sponsored by the DAR. Boulton’s students participated in the Stamp Design Contest and Sanders’ made a banner depicting this year’s national theme, “100th Anniversary of World War I.”
Second-grader Finley Duke was awarded the state award for her stamp design. Maya Hurtado was awarded first place in first grade with second place to Harper Horner. Honorable mention was awarded to Rylan Payte and Luke Dishongh, both in the first grade.
Sanders class won the state award for its banner depicting various events of World War I. Each student decided what they wanted to put on the banner. In order to win a state award, the students competed against all the students who participated in Arkansas, which includes several hundred students.
All of the participants are winners. In order to win on a national level, the participants must win first place in state, then progress to the South Central Division, which includes the states of Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Louisiana and Mississippi. They compete with all the first place winners of this division. The winner of the division then goes to national competition. There were more than 37,000 students from the U.S. who competed in this competition.
“John Percifull Chapter, DAR, is proud and honored to sponsor St. Luke’s Episcopal Day School, who has participated in the JAC program for several years winning national awards five different years and many state awards as well,” states the press release. Peggy Vandenberg is the DAR Chapter chairman who has worked with the teachers over the years with this program.
Junior American Citizens is the National Society DAR’s second oldest youth-oriented committee. The committee had its beginning in October 1901 with the object to teach children some knowledge of the principles of the government. Today, JAC is known as the “Triple A” committee with an emphasis on ancestry, academics and allegiance. The JAC Contest, with an annual theme, is designed to promote good citizenship and history. It can be incorporated into the classroom curriculum and offers opportunities for public recognition of today’s young people.
The contest is open to all youth, kindergarten through high school, and all levels of special education. Schools, Scout troops, day care, church groups and special education facilities offer opportunities for implementing the contest.