Snow Canyon High student wins Daughters of the American Revolution good citizen scholarship

Snow Canyon High School senior Pyper Schmutz reads her winning essay at the presentation of her award for earning the Daughters of the American Revolution Good Citizen scholarship contest, Salt Lake City, Utah, date not specified | Photo courtesy of the Daughters of the American Revolution Color Country Chapter, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — The Utah State Society Daughters of the American Revolution named Pyper Schmutz, a senior from Snow Canyon High School, the winner of this year’s DAR Good Citizens Scholarship Contest. This announcement was made at the society’s annual 2018 state conference recently held in Salt Lake City.

The Good Citizens program and scholarship contest is intended to encourage and reward the qualities of good citizenship. It is open to all senior class students enrolled in accredited public or private secondary schools in good standing with their state boards of education.

This past year, local Daughters of the American Revolution chapters throughout the state invited 124 accredited high schools to participate. Only one student per participating high school can be honored with this award.  The student that is selected to be the Good Citizen by school administration must possess outstanding qualities of dependability,service, leadership and patriotism.  Each school’s winner receives a Good Citizen pin, certificate and wallet recognition card.  In all, 42 Utah high school seniors were recognized as Good Citizens statewide.

Daughters of the American Revolution Good Citizen winners may advance and participate in the scholarship contest.  This contest consists of two parts.

Part 1 – the student describes how he/she has tried to manifest the qualities of a good citizen; and Part 2 – the student writes a timed essay administered under the supervision of a Daughters of the American Revolution member or school faculty member.  The essay must be completed in one sitting, within a 2-hour time limit and without assistance of any reference materials.  The topic they were instructed to write about was “How has America advanced the cause of freedom in the rest of the world.”

Seven of Utah’s nine Daughters of the American Revolution chapters had seniors participating in this contest.  Essay winners recognized at the chapter level were: Crystal Stanley, Bald Eagle Chapter in Cedar City; Pyper Schmutz, Color Country Chapter in St George; Danielle Mesa, Princess Timpanogos Chapter in Salt Lake City; Chloe Titensor, Sego Lily Chapter in Bountiful; Valerie Sokolow, Salt Lake Valley Chapter in Murray; Tyler Pierce, Unitah Chapter in Salt Lake City; and Holly Hill, Wasatch Range Chapter in Provo.

All winning essays at the chapter level are sent to the Utah State Society Daughters of the American Revolution for state judging. The chosen winner is based on his/her school and community accomplishments, references and essay preparation. Schmutz, out of a field of seven, took the state title.

For her winning essay, Schmutz received a $100 cash award, certificate and pin from Color Country Chapter. For her state win, the Utah State Society Daughters of the American Revolution presented her a $300 cash award, a state certificate and pin. Daughters of the American Revolution Good Citizens State Committee Chairman, Susan Holt, was honored to present her with an additional gift, a special book titled “Reporting the Revolutionary War: Before it was History, it was News” by Todd Andrlik.  This book contains copies of actual newspaper articles that were written and printed during the Revolutionary War.

Read her winning essay here.

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