Local writers recognized at annual Alta Mira DAR student awards
Between 30 and 40 people, family, friends, teachers and principals attended an awards ceremony Saturday at the Westwood Village clubhouse for seven students who won the Alta Mira Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution student awards.
Four students from grades 5 – 8 won the awards for writing essays on women's suffrage, or the Christopher Columbus essay on American history, and three high school students received Good Citizen awards for following a scholarship process and writing an essay on an unknown topic about dependability, service, leadership, and patriotism.
Deanna Pettus, Alta Mira Chapter Regent, gave the welcoming address, and spoke about the awards and the students receiving them, and said, “this is our future.”
Chaplain Norma Doyel gave the invocation before the meeting, after which there was the Pledge of Allegiance.
“We are happy to see you all here and thank you for coming,” said Pat Holly, former regent of the Alta Mira DAR, and awards program chair.
The history essays addressed women's suffrage, celebrating 100 years of women having the right to vote. They were to imagine they were living in 1919 and to discuss the pros and cons of the 19th Amendment, which had been recently passed.
Holly said the 100th anniversary was especially momentous, because the 19th Amendment not only gave women the right to vote, but to also hold office. And in those days, the amendment divided a lot of families. She said, “There are more women in Congress than ever before, and I'm very thankful for that.”
She spoke about divisions happening in today's political parties, and said that this is definitely not the first time “division in the parties has affected America,” that after the American Revolution, there was great division, but good sense, the good of the country, and the people prevailed. She said that knowing American history is very valuable. Having and education in history and passing it on to future generations is what the DAR promotes.
The Christopher Columbus essays for 9th to 12th grade addressed the advantages and disadvantages of 15th century ships to modern ships and voyage preparation.
All the essays were entirely original and age and grade appropriate.
Sixth grader Stephanie Canchola of Tipton Elementary, took home first place in her category, eighth grader Tristin Joel Galvan of Porterville Military Academy took second, and eighth grader Yadira Moran of Pioneer Middle School took third.
In the high school category, Porterville High School senior Shyanne Rainey was the Christopher Columbus Chapter Winner, Christian Pimentel of Harmony Magnet Academy took second place, and Diana Andrade of Porterville High School took third.
Andy Garcia from Granite Hills High School was a Good Citizen Chapter Winner.
Essay titles were: “Our American Heritage and our responsibility preserving it,” and the focus question was, “What new challenges will America face as we move forward in the future?”
Andy Garcia spoke about how Americans can combat the lack of
patriotism, and how the political parties are divided in today's political atmosphere, and that the younger generations need to guard against political apathy.
Following the rules of the program was a challenge, but the students had prompts, he said. They did no research, but proctors monitored their essay writing carefully.
“I think all the challenges in America's past will continue to help Americans persevere and face the challenges in the future,” he said. “I feel as a young man that our contemporaries or young people need to become more politically active and know what is going on.”
Christian Pimentel spoke about the American people and their ability to impact the future by overcoming challenges, and the ability of the parties to unify and compromise to face challenges together as a unified America.
Diana Andrade wrote about our American heritage and discussed challenges of migration, immigration, and the growth of technology, and the fact that the country must overcome technological issues to grow into the 21st century.