The Griffith Rutherford Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is pleased to announce the winners of the State JAC, Southeastern Division (seven southeastern states) and National levels of judging of the 2023-2024 Junior American Citizens Contest (JAC). This is an annual contest sponsored by the Griffith Rutherford Chapter to promote good citizenship, history, and patriotism. The National contest's theme for the 2023-2024 school year was "Sparkling in the Stars with the 50th Anniversary of the NASA Space Shuttle Program". The JAC Contest in Rutherford County is for students in grades 3rd through 8th in public, private, charter and home school situations. The students in 3rd through 5th grades could choose to compete in any of the following contest areas: designing a stamp, drawing a poster, creating original digital art, writing and drawing a graphic novel/comic, writing original poetry, writing a short story, producing a banner, submitting a photo essay, or conducting and writing about a community service project completed in 2023. Those students in 6th, 7th and 8th grades could compete in any of the following categories: drawing a poster, creating original digital art, writing original poetry, writing and drawing a graphic novel/comic, writing a short story, producing a banner, submitting a photo essay, or conducting and writing about a community service project. The local portion of this contest began in August of 2023.
This year the JAC Committee received 627 entries from 635 entrants in the following categories: Stamp Design, Poster, Banner, Poem, and Short Story. The Griffith Rutherford Chapter sent to the North Carolina State DAR JAC judging 24 entries from 28 students.
The following students' entries were judged:
First Place
EAST RUTHERFORD MIDDLE SCHOOL (ERMS)- 7th graders Izabella Greene, Kimberly Swink and Natalie Water all in Poster
HARRIS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL- 3rd grader Harper Jackson in Stamp Design and 4th grader Colton Robbins in Short Story
LAKE LURE CLASSICAL ACADEMY (LLCA)- 3rd graders Holden Hughes and another both in Poster, a 5th grader and 6th grader Allison McBrayer both in Poster
MOUNT VERNON-RUTH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL- 5th grader Edwin Galvez in Stamp Design
RUTHERFORDTON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL- 3rd graders Ava McClung and Masen Holland both in Stamp Design, and 5th graders Alina Cabrera and Luke Jackson both in Stamp Design
SPINDALE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL- 4th graders Alana Lynch in Poem and Lee Newton in Stamp Design
SUNSHINE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL- 4th grader Aliyah Hudson in Stamp Design
TRINITY CHRISTIAN SCHOOL- 5th grader Niya Macopson, Melody Davis, Eva Ryan, Megan Wilson, and Brayden Jonas all in Banner, 6th graders Nolan Jones and Makenna Carpenter both in Short Story, 7th graders C J McKeithan and Bailey Wiig both in Short Story, and 8th graders Ella Hawkins and Colby Whiteside both in Short Story.
State JAC first-place entry winners, were sent to the Southeast Division level of JAC judging where all the students received awards: Honorable Mention to Aliyah Hudson- 4th grader at Sunshine in Stamp Design, 3rd Place: Izabella Greene- 7th grader at ERMS in Poster and Ava McClung- 3rd grader at Rutherfordton in Stamp Design, a 2nd Place- 5th grader at LLCA in Poster, Kimberly Swink 7th grader at ERMS in Poster, Harper Jackson- 3rd grader at Harris in Stamp Design, and Luke Jackson- 5th grader at Rutherfordton in Stamp Design, 1st Place: Natalie Waters- 7th grader at ERMS in Poster, Colton Robbins- 4th grader at Harris in Short Story, Holden Hughes and another- both 3rd graders at LLCA and Allison McBrayer- 6th grader at LLCA all in Poster, Edwin Galvez 5th grader at Mount Vernon-Ruth in Stamp Design, Masen Holland- 3rd grader at Rutherfordton and Alina Cabrera 5th grader at Rutherfordton both in Stamp Design, Alana Lynch in Poem and Lee Newton in Stamp Design both 4th graders at Spindale, Niya Macopson, Melody Davis, Eva Ryan, Megan Wilson and Brayden Jonas- 5th graders at Trinity Christian in Banner, Nolan Jones in Short Story and Makenna Carpenter in Short Story both 6th graders at Trinity Christian, C J McKeithan in Short Story and Bailey Wiig in Short Story both 7th graders at Trinity Christian, Ella Hawkins in Short Story and Colby Whiteside in Short Story both 8th graders at Trinity Christian.
From the Southeast Division judging all 17 First Place entries from the 21 students were sent to Washington, D.C. to the National JAC Contest judging. The entries were judged with the winners of each of the other 7 Divisions in the United States as per their category.
The results of that judging: Participation Certificates were awarded to Alana Lynch- 4th grader from Spindale Elementary in Poem, Nolan Jones 6th grader, Makenna Carpenter 6th grader, C J McKeithan 7th grader, Bailey Wiig 7th grader, Ella Hawkins 8th grader, and Colby Whiteside 8th grader all from Trinity Christian in Short Story; 3rd Place Certificates and Medals were awarded to: 3rd graders Holden Hughes andanother from Lake Lure Classical Academy in Poster,5th grader Alina Cabrera from Rutherfordton Elementary in Stamp Design, 4th grader Lee Newton from Spindale Elementary in Stamp Design, and 5th graders Niya Macopson, Melody Davis, Eva Ryan, Megan Wilson, and Brayden Jonas from Trinity Christian in Banner; 2nd Place Certificates and Medals were awarded to: 5th grader Edwin Galvez from Mount Vernon-Ruth Elementary in Stamp Design, 3rd grader Masen Holland from Rutherfordton Elementary in Stamp Design, and 1st Place Certificates and Medals were awarded to: 7th grader Natalie Waters from East Rutherford Middle School in Poster, 4th grader Colton Robbins from Harris Elementary in Short Story, and 6th grader Allison McBrayer from Lake Lure Classical Academy in Poster.