ELIZABETHTOWN — Student award winners were honored and new officers elected at the March meeting of the Battle of Elizabethtown Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.
Regent Terry Smith presided over the business session of the meeting. The chapter planned for the state conference this month, and the Continental Congress in June.
The new officers are Terry Duncan, regent; Susie Wilkes, vice regent; Arrie Formyduval, secretary; Ceceile Bryan, chaplain; Sharon Natale, treasurer; Linda Rivenbark, registrar; Sheila Calloway, historian; and Judy Sessoms, librarian. Installation will be in May. Linda Smith, past regent, will provide assistance to the registrar.
Sunday Allen was honored by the chapter’s Constitution Week Committee for her work in teaching the principles of the U.S. Constitution. Bryan will be recognized at the state level by the Conservation Committee for a reforestation project on her family’s property.
Special projects for this month’s meeting were a baby shower for new mother veterans, sponsored by the DAR Services for Veterans Committee. Baby clothing, diapers and gift cards were donated by members.
Items for the Junior Shoppe Pouch fund were also collected at the meeting. The Junior Members Committee funds an annual teacher scholarship through its Junior Shoppe sales at state conference. A set of hand-woven coasters made by students at Crossnore DAR Schools will be given away at the May meeting by members who donated to any of the committees and placed a ticket in the collection vase. All proceeds will benefit DAR supported schools.
Rivenbark reported on plans for members of the Brown Marsh Chapter, Children of the American Revolution to attend their state conference in Wilmington at the end of the month. She encouraged chapter members to provide items or monetary donations for the hospitality room in addition to funds and items already donated.
The chapter also paid tribute to the life of chapter member Janice Ryckeley, a retired lieutenant colonel from the Air Force, who recently lost her battle with cancer. She was a Bladen County native and decorated military flight nurse.
The students award winners at each level read their essays to the group.
Sydney Gardner of East Bladen High School presented her take on the high school essay prompt which asked students to compare the technology and changes in shipping from the days of Christopher Columbus to today. This contest was jointly sponsored with the Italian American Society.
Students in grades six through eight wrote on the impact of the women’s suffrage movement, which celebrated the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment giving women voting rights in 2019.
All of the middle school winners attend Clarkton School of Discovery and included eighth-grader Karli Priest, seventh-grader Regan Moore and sixth-grader Garrett Dunham.
Certificates were awarded to each. Dunham won at the District VII level and awarded $100 by Anne Jones, the district treasurer.
Natale, the National Defense Committee chairwoman, introduced the leadership awards for cadets from area high schools’ Junior ROTC programs. Cadet Michelle Nigera from East Bladen High School and Cadet Kiera Porter from West Bladen High School were selected by their instructors, who gave glowing reports of the young ladies’ skills in the areas of time management, leadership, motivation and instilling cooperation within their units.
A cadet from the Paul Brown Leadership Academy’s Naval Sea Cadets will be recognized at their spring awards program.
The DAR recognized the Good Citizens selected by the staff at each high school. East Bladen High School chose Olivia Hollingsworth while West Bladen High School named Edgardo Lara. Hollingsworth was also recognized by the chapter for Outstanding Work in American history for her role as the president of the school’s History Club and her commitment to the preservation of historic Harmony Hall.
Attending the DAR meeting in March were (front, from left) Karli Priest, Regan Moore, Garrett Dunham, (back, from left) Terry Smith, Sharon Natale, Lt. Col. Mike Hubbard, Kiera Porter, Lt. Col. Kevin Brown, Michelle Nigera, Olivia Hollingsworth, Sydney Gardner, Linda Smith and Anne Jones. Hubbard is an instructor at West Bladen; Brown is an instructor at East Bladen; and Jones is a DAR district representative.
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