Group honors good citizen
Joseph Meador has been named Harlem High Good Citizen by the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Joseph Meador, from Harlem High School, talks with a DAR chapter member after the awards banquet. Joseph was named Harlem High Good Citizen by the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution on Wednesday. Students were judged on dependability, service, leadership and patriotism.
Photo by Jerrie Macintire
Karen Holley, good citizen chairman of the Captain John Wilson Chapter of the DAR, recognized Joseph at an awards ceremony Feb. 2 in Thomson.
"This is the highlight of our year. This is something to be proud of," Holley told the audience, which included Joseph's grandmother, Dorothy Arrowood, of Harlem.
Students were judged on dependability, service, leadership and patriotism. As part of the competition, students were nominated by their schools. In addition, they filled out information sheets and wrote patriotic essays, which the winners read at the ceremony.
Writing under pressure is a difficult task, Holley said, and the students were allowed no reference materials.
Joseph admitted to a few jitters before tackling the essay, "but once I started writing, it was good."
Students had 2 hours to write an essay on "Our American Heritage and Our Responsibility to Preserve It."
Three judges evaluated the essays and other materials to select the Good Citizen winners from the Captain John Wilson Chapter of the DAR. Jessica Bell received the Good Citizen Award for Thomson High School. Other nominees included Felix Chinea, Ashlie Crabtree and Megan Fox from Harlem High, and Emily Davis, Blakely Holley and Mark Watkins from Thomson High.
Joseph is considering attending college, or entering the Navy. If he goes to college, he plans to study biomedical engineering with a goal of researching diseases, he said.
First National Bank and Trust presented $50 savings bonds to the winners.