Signal Hill, NSDAR to host Youth Awards Feb. 24

The Barrington area Signal Hill Chapter, National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution, will sponsor its annual American History Essay Contest and Good Citizen Award recognition event at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 24, at the Barrington Area Library, 505 N. Northwest Hwy., in Barrington.

At the beginning of the current school year, students from local area schools and home-schooled students were asked to participate. Fifth- through eighth-graders were invited to submit essays on the topic "The Women's Suffrage Campaign." Students were asked to imagine that they were living in 1919, while the women's suffrage campaigns were having an impact on America, both socially and politically, and to discuss the pros and cons of the amendment that had been passed by Congress.

Thirty-five essays were submitted by the deadline, and those students who participated will be recognized at all levels of participation, with the winners' sponsoring schools receiving engraved plaques with the students' names.

Winning entries will then be evaluated at additional levels of the competition, culminating in a national winner receiving a gold pin, a certificate, a monetary award, and a trip to the National Society awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., in June.

One high school level senior will receive the Good Citizen Award, which is a scholarship for $1,000 from the Signal Hill Chapter. The award is based on a student who possesses good citizenship qualities of dependability, service, leadership and patriotism at home, school and in the community.

Applicants submit a completed questionnaire, essay, scholastic record, and a letter of recommendation. The chapter winner advances to further competitions for a DAR district, state and national winner, with the top three national award winners being provided scholarships to the school of their choice.

For information about the event, or the annual contests, contact Holly Dietz at signalhillhistorian@gmail.com.