High school students named good citizens

THOMSON - The Captain John Wilson chapter of the National Daughters of the American Revolution society announced the winners of its annual Good Citizen Essay Contest on Wednesday at the McDuffie County Library.

Honored were overall winner and Harlem High Good Citizen Tiffany Umlauf and Thomson High Good Citizen and overall runner-up Megan Ruehle.

Participants in the contest were nominated by school faculty and staff, and the essays were judged by members of the local DAR chapter. They were also required to submit two letters of recommendation along with resumes which reflected both their academic and community achievements.

"(Participants) are interested in different things, but they always excel," said Good Citizen Chairman Karen Holley.

Overall winner Umlauf seemed in awe of the honor.

"I wanted to do the best I could," said Umlauf of the contest. "I wanted to bring this honor to my school."

DAR is an organization that, among other things, stresses the importance of patriotism. The winning essays certainly reflected a love for America.

"The first thing I thought was about how diverse we (the country) are but still united," said Ruehle.

The participants were judged on the following criteria throughout the process: dependability, service, leadership, and patriotism. As a prize, both winners received savings bonds.

"This is our big event," said Good Citizen Chairman Karen Holley. "We feel like it's important to be patriotic, and it's important young people know what made our country what it is."

Umlauf will now take her essay and represent the local chapter of DAR at the district level of competition.