Local Howell High School senior Addison Watts has been selected for a prestigious Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) scholarship, recognizing her academic promise and commitment to American values. This organization awards scholarships to students yearly who demonstrate interest in pursuing a higher education and exemplify their core values: patriotism, preserving American history, and securing America’s future through better education for children.
“I felt extremely honored. I feel very proud of my accomplishment, and I feel really lucky to have the opportunity to have this nomination and compete against others,” senior Watts said.
Watts was selected for this through a pool of applicants nominated by teachers. The Howell High School counseling department takes all nominations and determines who would be the best option to give this to. They base this on teachers providing a recommendation as to why they nominate an individual.
“Malo nominated me because I embodied the DAR spirit, which is patriotism and being honest, hard-working, and trustworthy. And I’m a hard worker, so that was one of the reasons why I was nominated as well,” Watts said.
Considered a selective honor, only one student is chosen per school every year. The selection process is well thought out, as the scholarship competition is multi-tiered.
“There were a lot of strong candidates recommended, so we had to think carefully about who would be the best fit,” Mrs. Marcum said. “Once nominated, candidates have to write an essay, which is submitted in a sealed envelope. We also considered who we thought would be a strong writer, since the winner is often determined by the quality of the essay.”
She added, “For the past three years, we’ve had the winner from Livingston County. Other schools—Hartland, Pinckney, Brighton, Fowlerville—also nominate candidates, but our candidate has consistently had the best essay and been judged the winner.”
Watt’s counselor, Mr. Roy-Borland, also informed the Watts family about her selection. Since then, the Watts family has been working together to prepare her for this process.
“We went over everything that she needed to do in order, like the steps that she needed to do and the paperwork that she needed to fill out and everything together,” her mother, Mrs. Shannon Watts, said.
Watts has also had to put in more work beyond that. From researching more about the DAR values, as advised by Mrs. Marcum, to getting more teacher recommendations and building a resume, she has spent time working on this scholarship application.
“It’s a little bit time-consuming because I have to get two new teacher recommendations, I have to write a resume for this, and I also have to write the essay. So it’s a little bit of a time-like, constricting thing, but I feel honored to have it,” Watts said.
Besides working on scholarship applications, Watts has also been handling her extracurricular activities, such as being the Howell High School HOPE Squad president, working at her job, or being an active member of the performing arts community. Despite juggling all of this at the present moment, she has also looked into the future.
“I plan on majoring in political science, hopefully at MSU or U of M, and I plan on getting my graduate degree in constitutional democracy at John Hopkins. And I think this scholarship would be such a great help in lifting a little bit of a burden off of my weight, like off my back for paying for college,” Watts said.
With these goals in mind, she has been working on them to achieve them. Now that she can win $500 at the county level, her family feels more equipped to empower her.
“Addison, I want her to fly as high as she can fly. I’m just very proud of her and everything that she’s done,” Mrs. Watts said.
