Templeton High School student Bianca Nunez won this year’s Good Citizen Award
NORTH COUNTY — The El Paso de Robles Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) has announced the winners of the Good Citizen, American History and the Patriots of the American Revolution essay contests for 2023.
Good Citizen
The Good Citizen award is open to all accredited North County high school students. Schools are asked to nominate one student who exemplifies a Good Citizen’s qualities. Each entry must submit their high school activities, including how they serve the community, their future plans, extracurricular activities, and how they have exhibited the Good Citizen qualities of dependability, service, leadership, and patriotism. They must also submit their grade transcripts and two letters of recommendation. Once a student is chosen, they are asked to write a timed and proctored essay.Â
A panel of three community members who do not belong to NSDAR review all entries and select a winner. All panel members have backgrounds as teachers, newspaper writers, and public service.
Three students entered the competition this year:
- Tiffani Santoro, Paso Robles High School, daughter of Tim and Fatima Santoro
- Samantha Legorreta, Shandon High School, daughter of Hilda Guzman
- Bianca Nunez, Templeton High School, daughter of Mario Nunez and Bianca Cecila and Luis Alberto Garcia.
Winning this year’s Good Citizen award was Nunez of Templeton.
Patriots of the American RevolutionÂ
The Patriots of the American Revolution essay contest is open to students in the ninth through 12th grades. Only one winner is selected. For this year’s topic, students were to select a figure from the era of the American Revolution (1773-1783) and discuss who he or she was and the contribution that historic character made to the founding of a new nation. The figure must have been an actual person, either one who is well-known or an everyday man, woman, or child who supported the Revolution in any way.
This year’s winner was Katherine Nicholson, Templeton High School, daughter of John E.D. and Cynthia Nicholson. Katherine also won the District VII contest.
American History
The American History essay contest is open to students in the fifth through eighth grades in all accredited schools in North County. The topic of the American History contest this year was “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” Each student was to imagine they were a newspaper reporter and write an article about the first performance of the song that day. The students were to also include information about John Philip Sousa’s life and the story behind the song.
The entries are judged by grade level. The winners of the contest are:
Fifth grade: Vivian Giese, Almond Acres Charter School, daughter of Christopher and Laura Giese. Vivian also won at the District VII level.
Sixth grade: Anna Ferrera, St. Rose Catholic School, daughter of Chris and Adrienne Ferrara.
Seventh grade: Matilda Meacham, St. Rose Catholic School, daughter of Kim Meacham. Matilda also won at the District VII level.
Eighth grade: Cameron Hubert, son of Kent Hubert and Estera and Alex Gonzales.
Feature Image: Three students from North County entered into the Good Citizen essay contest (from left): Tiffani Santoro, Samantha Legorreta, and Bianca Nunez, who was named the winner. Photo courtesy of NSDAR
