The Lake Minnetonka Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution is proud to announce the deserving winners of its 2020 student competitions. Each year the DAR honors students with awards that recognize their enthusiasm for American history as writers, their academic accomplishments as students, and their passion for community service as young leaders.
Middle school students were invited to compose essays related to “The Voyage of the Mayflower,” in honor of the event’s 400th anniversary. This year’s sixth-grade winner is Spencer Wang who chose to write about the passengers bound for the new world aboard the ship, Speedwell. The Speedwell was forced to return to England after developing leaks 300 miles into its journey after which some of its determined passengers ultimately joined those on the already crowded Mayflower instead. The seventh-grade winner is Yuv Magan who chose to write about the social aspects of the Mayflower’s voyage. Yuv discussed the problems of illness and boredom experienced by the ship’s passengers during the voyage, as well as their experience meeting and interacting with indigenous people upon their arrival. Emmaline Wang is this year’s eighth-grade winner. Emmaline chose to write from the perspective of a passenger keeping a diary aboard the Mayflower. She described the jubilant emotions her diary-keeper must have felt when arriving at the new world on November 9, 1620. These three essay competition winners all attend Wayzata Middle School.
Wayzata High School’s Alice Cerney is the 2020 winner of the prestigious DAR Good Citizenship Award. This special recognition is given to an academically accomplished student who is recognized by her teachers as a leader, a hard worker, and a generous community volunteer. Candidates for this award must submit their grades, document their extra-curricular activities, and write a short perspective on the meaning of the DAR’s values of dependability, service, leadership, and patriotism. Additionally, students were given two hours to write a 550-word response to the essay prompt, “How would you energize America’s youth to fully engage as effective citizens?” Based on her experience helping to plan and execute an event that provided healthy meals for families in need, Alice’s essay focused on the importance of engaging young leaders through meaningful community service. Already a licensed pilot, Alice plans to take her leadership skills to the University of North Dakota where she will study commercial aviation.
Wayzata High School senior, Rhynn Paulsen, is the recipient of the Lake Minnetonka Chapter DAR scholarship award. Winners of this award are chosen for their academic achievement, leadership in extra-curricular activities, and the student’s intention to pursue a career that benefits society. Rhynn has developed an empathy for people experiencing chronic pain based on her personal experience with a loved one. She intends to go into the medical field and says that she hopes to become the kind of doctor who “really listens to her patients” and “doesn’t stop looking for a cure” for the pain they experience.
The Lake Minnetonka Chapter DAR congratulates each of these students on their accomplishments and wishes them well in their future leadership pursuits.
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