Local DAR essay winner picked

Harrison Boyd Baker, an eighth-grader at River City Middle School, is this year’s Daughters of the American Revolution of Coeur d’Alene American History Essay Contest winner.

The Lt. George Farragut Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, asked for essays from five local school districts in Kootenai County and Shoshone County (Cd'A, Post Falls, Lakeland, Kellogg, Mullan, Plummer-Worley), homeschoolers and Christian schools via fliers in libraries.

Usually there are chapter winners for fifth- through eighth-graders, but this year there weren’t enough essay submissions.

Baker’s essay has now been submitted to the state-level competition. If an essay is a state winner, it will go to a regional competition, and on to the national competition.

This year’s prompt was “Celebrating a Century: America’s National Parks” which asked students to pretend they were writing in a journal while visiting one of the 58 national parks and explain why it is a national treasure.

The Daughters of the American Revolution is a nonprofit organization whose efforts are to preserve history, promote patriotism, and support education. Membership is open to women 18 and older who can show, through research and documentation, they are related to someone who fought or supported the American efforts in the Revolutionary War.

Presently, there are more than 180,000 members worldwide.

The local Lt. George Farragut Chapter, NSDAR is quite active through its committee work supporting veterans in the area, participating in memorial services, volunteering efforts, providing scholarships, and placing historical markers. Interested parties may contact: Connie at (208) 667-8299 or access the national website at dar.org.