Local DAR Chapter Announces Student Award Recipients

The Pleasanton based José Maria Amador chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution (JMADAR) held its annual student awards ceremony on February 8, 2020. Eleven (11) local students were recognized for taking part in the following 2019 programs: Constitution Week Poster Contest, DAR Good Citizen, American History Essay Contest – “The Voyage of the Mayflower”, and Christopher Columbus Essay Contest – “A Sailor’s Experiences as Part of Christopher Columbus’ First Expedition to the Americas”.

Audrey Kang won the DAR Good Citizen Award for demonstrating qualities of dependability, service, leadership and patriotism. Audrey is a senior at Dublin High School in Dublin. Jessica Gudino of Foothill High School in Pleasanton was awarded honorable mention.

Four students from different grade levels were presented American History Essay Awards for their description of “The Voyage of the Mayflower”. 2020 marks the 400th Anniversary of the voyage of the Mayflower and the founding of the Plymouth Colony. Students were asked to imagine being one of the passengers on the Mayflower. Emily Hsu from Donlon Elementary School in Pleasanton was the 5th grade winner, Pragyan Ramamoorthy from Gale Ranch Middle School in San Ramon was the 6th grade winner, Olivia Kang from Thomas S. Hart Middle School in Pleasanton was the 7th grade winner and Aditya Dawar of Harvest Park Middle School in Pleasanton was the 8th grade winner.

The Christopher Columbus essay contest winner was Eva Shen a 10th grader at Dougherty Valley High school in San Ramon. Eva was the Chapter winner and also the District IV winner of the essay contest. Her essay was on the topic “A Sailor’s Experiences as Part of Christopher Columbus’ First Expedition to the Americas”. Christopher Columbus’ first expedition set off in August of 1492. He and his men explored the Caribbean for 5 months after arriving there in October. Essay writers were asked to imagine being a sailor who accompanied Christopher Columbus on this voyage and now have returned to Spain and to describe their impression of Christopher Columbus and perception of the purpose of the expedition. District winners will go on to compete at the state level.

For the first time the JMADAR presented awards to Constitution Week Poster Contest winners. The winning poster at the National level will be printed in the spring of 2020 and offered for sale at the DAR store in Washington, DC. All four chapter winners were from Thomas S. Hart Middle School in Pleasanton. Their teacher, Emily Santos, was also recognized for making their school not only a safe and nurturing environment but a space from them to create and explore and build on their gifts. First place went to Fatima Kanamkandy, Second place to Manasvita Venkatesh, Third place to Abrianna Zhang and an Honorable mention to Jyothi Vema.

JMADAR presented certificates, pins, and in some case scholarship monies. The students were also honored with certificates from Pleasanton Mayor Jerry Thorne, Mr. Rahul Maharaj and Mr. Scott Miller representing U.S. Congressman Eric Swalwell, and San Ramon Vice-Mayor Sabina Zafar. Also in attendance was Derek Brown, one of the judges for the Christopher Columbus essay contest and a member of the National Society Sons of the American Revolution (NSSAR) currently serving as National Trustee for California, NSSAR Inspector General and the Registrar for the local Thomas Jefferson Chapter in Concord.

The ceremony was held at the Pleasant View Church of Christ in Pleasanton. The Young American Patriots (YAPS) Fife and Drum Corps opened the ceremony by playing rousing colonial music of the Revolutionary War period, including Yankee Doodle! Cindi Newbold, JMADAR Vice-Regent, led the award ceremony. Family members, school representatives and local political leaders attended and congratulated the winners. The morning concluded with a reception to honor the winners.

The American History Essay contest, the DAR Good Citizen Award and the Christopher Columbus essay contest are conducted annually by the DAR whose mission is historical preservation, promotion of education and encouragement of patriotic endeavor. For more information about joining the local DAR chapter, please contact Vice Regent Cindi Newbold at jmaviceregent@gmail.com.