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Lauren Ward Cooper was honored as the good citizen of the year by the Agnes Pruyn Chapman Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution Sunday.
Cooper, a Warsaw Community High School student, is the daughter of Gary and Shayna Cooper, of Warsaw.
Cooper read from her winning essay during the DAR's American History Month Celebration in the First United Methodist Church.
The good citizen essay will be forwarded to a state committee for judging and could be recognized on the national level.
The good citizens essays of two other students, Laura Elizabeth Matti, of Lakeland Christian Academy, and George Aaron Reed, of Tippecanoe Valley High School, also were recognized.
Fifth-graders Jacob Hillis, who is home schooled, and Allyson Lyn Ross, who attends Akron Elementary School, also read their essays titled "Benjamin Franklin - More Than A Revolutionary."
Hillis, son of Ken and Lori Hillis, Warsaw, received the top honor among the fifth-graders.
Ross is the daughter of Jim and Brenda Ross, Akron.
Other fifth-grade entrants were Barbara J. Kimmel, of Mentone Elementary School, and Anne Beer, of Milford Elementary School.
No sixth-, seventh- or eighth-graders entered the contest.
In the third contest, writers compared and contrasted two voyages of exploration in an essay titled "The Santa Maria to the New World and the Apollo Mission to the Moon: Christopher Columbus and the Astronauts."
Kaveh Akbar, son of Karim and Wanda Akbar, of Warsaw, and a student at WCHS, read from his essay about the trips taken in 1492 and 1969.
Kathleen Gawthrop is regent of the local DAR; Mary Ettinger, vice regent; and Kathleen Goshert, chaplain. Sally Nichols presented the essay awards.
