Three Owls Receive DAR Essay Honors

Three Owls received honors for their submissions to Daughters of the American Revolution essay contests. Representatives of the DAR Watauga Chapter, Mrs. Maria Burke (former MUS math teacher) and Mrs. Jean McSwain, came to campus to make the presentations.
The seventh and eighth grade theme challenged Owls to imagine they are one of the 51 women from Edenton, North Carolina, who boldly refused to buy tea from the British due to high taxes and laws in October 1774. Students were asked to evaluate the decision and describe the “new kind of tea party.”

Alex Russell won first place among seventh graders in the Chickasaw District and earned an Honorable Mention in Tennessee. Eighth grader Kushal Das repeated as the first-place winner in the district and in Tennessee. He will be honored at a ceremony on the grounds of the State Capitol in Nashville. Both Owls placed first in their divisions for the Watauga Chapter and received a certificate, medal, and cash prize.

Taking the viewpoint of an Edenton boycotter, Das wrote, “Unlike those individuals who threw a glut of tea into the Boston Harbor, who, in my humble opinion, protested against the British in the most cowardly way possible by disguising themselves and performing their protest in apparent ‘secrecy’ under cover of night, we signed the Edenton Resolves with our complete names, and we were ready to face any ridicule or scorn that we would inevitably receive whilst standing tall with pride in our decision.”

In the Patriots of the American Revolution essay contest for high school students, sophomore Liam Curran was honored for his essay about a patriot who interests and inspires him.

Curran chose Benjamin Franklin in his essay titled, “From Lightning to Liberty,” which won first place in the chapter, district, and state of Tennessee.

He wrote, “Franklin was not the commander of a great army, but he was something far more significant; he was a thinker whose legacy will forever live on as an American businessman, inventor, politician, and revolutionary.”

The contests, which included 20,000 entrants nationwide and 81 locally, were judged on historical accuracy, adherence to the subject, organization of the material, originality, interest, spelling, punctuation, and grammar. 

The DAR Watauga Chapter will recognize the Owl essay writers for their achievements March 22 during a luncheon at Memphis National Golf Club.
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