The Daughters of the American Revolution’s (DAR) Old Unicoi Trail Chapter selected Fannin County High School senior Hannah Cruse, of Morganton, as the schools’ National Good Citizen.
She was chosen over other students for being dependable, serving her community, providing leadership and being a patriot. Those who entered the scholarship answered the question: “How would you energize America’s youth to fully engage as effective citizens? Why is that important?”
Students did not have the topic in advance of writing. Cruse’s essay read, “It is such an honor to live in a country where intellectual prosperity and self-motivation has the potential to allow you to find the greatest version of yourself … to be over-comers of one’s story.”
Cruse, an active member of her school and community, described two barriers that prevent youth from being civic-minded. The first is literacy. She shared her experiences helping struggling student readers who can fall up to 10 grades below their current grade level. She said, “the ideas or concepts that America’s youth learn from books have the power to energize them, allow them to find their values and engage as effective citizens.”
She calls for access to free books for young people. She quotes Frederick Douglas who said, “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”
As called for by Cruse, free access to books is happening in the Union County Ferst Readers Program. Towns and Fannin counties also have the program. Janice Cochran, leader of the Union and Towns County Programs, provided program information and displayed books. Significant research confirms the relationship between children who read or are read to and their ability to prosper and advance academically. According to their website, Ferst Readers addresses one of the most basic issues of childhood literacy – ensuring the availability of quality books in the home so that parents can read to their child. Children from birth to five years old who are enrolled in the Ferst Reader Program receive a new book every month until their fifth birthday. That’s up to 60 books. Books are made available through donations. New mothers at Union General Hospital are encouraged to register their newborns. Parents are also encouraged to read to children from birth and engage in related activities.
Cruse believes depression is the second barrier that limits young peoples’ engagement as effective. She promotes the Happiness Rocks campaign that shares basic principles that when employed “would allow America’s youth to fully engage as a citizen, simply by being who they are, and living our their “pursuit of happiness.”