Fort Payne DAR Chapter holds annual awards ceremony
On Sunday, April 8, the Fort Payne Chapter of the National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution held its annual awards ceremony. Awards were given for community service, good citizenship, outstanding work in American history, being the outstanding American history teacher, and outstanding junior member. Fort Payne also awarded its annual education scholarship.
Dan Casey, owner of Casey's Foods in Naperville, was recognized by Fort Payne with the 2018 DAR Community Service Award. Casey has championed many causes in Naperville, including being on the board of directors for Little Friends, Naperville Country Club, and the Naperville Heritage Society. He also served on boards for two local banks.
Katherine Keenan won the chapter's own scholarship, the Vera Walz Education Scholarship. Keenan is a senior at Neuqua Valley High School. In the fall, she will be enrolling at Brigham Young University in Utah.
The DAR Good Citizen Awards are selected by faculty at their respective schools. To receive this award, high school seniors must demonstrate qualities of dependability, service, leadership and patriotism in their homes, schools and communities. This year's honorees include:
• Dan Dorociak, Benet Academy in Lisle;
• Zainab Qureshi, Metea Valley High School in Naperville;
• Devan Fischer, Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville;
• Maya Benziger, Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora.
Dan Dorociak was also recognized as the Fort Payne Chapter winner.
Eighth-grade students from Kennedy Junior High School in Lisle and Saints Peter and Paul Schools in Naperville were recognized for their outstanding work in American history.
The DAR American History Essay Contest is open to all fifth- to eighth-grade students in Naperville area schools.
This year's topic was "World War I: Remembering the War to End All Wars."
David Wang from Kennedy Junior High School was the overall chapter winner. Patrick Aabram was recognized for his outstanding work. Patrick attends Saints Peter and Paul School.
Neuqua Valley's Catherine Bishir was recognized for her outstanding work as an American history teacher. Bishir is known for her passion for teaching and a love of American history.
Fort Payne Chapter honored Jane McCague as their outstanding junior member. To qualify, recipients must be 35 years old or younger, they must be active in the chapter and demonstrate patriotism. McCague was a natural selection because of her active participation in the chapter and community. In addition to being vice regent for the Fort Payne Chapter, McCague is chairwoman for the Good Citizen Award Committee and heads the chapter's adopt-a-park project. Fort Payne has adopted the entrance garden to Central Park in downtown Naperville. The chapter plants flowers several times a year at the park entrance.
Fort Payne congratulates all of the winners. To learn more about the local chapter, visit www.ildar.org/chapters/fortpayne/ or www.facebook.com/NapervilleDAR/.
The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in 1890 to promote historic preservation, education and patriotism. Its members are descended from the patriots who won American independence during the Revolutionary War. With more than 177,000 members in approximately 3,000 chapters worldwide, DAR is one of the world's largest and most active service organizations.
DAR members are committed to volunteer service having served more than 12.5 million hours in communities throughout the world during the past three years.
To learn more about the work of today's DAR, visit www.DAR.org or connect with DAR on social media at www.facebook.com/TodaysDAR, twitter.com/TodaysDAR and youtube.com/TodaysDAR.