Oro Fino Chapter DAR announces that Maxine Olivia Hoagland, 2023 graduate of Whitehall High School, is the four-county high school senior annual DAR Good Citizen winner, receiving a certificate, wallet card, cash award, and DAR Good Citizen lapel pin.
Hoagland was on the Whitehall high honor roll all four years, taking an extra year of science and an extra year of math, and serving as President of the National Honor Society and an active leader of the Student Council. She played basketball for six years, was active in 4-H and recently attended a leadership sports camp in Costa Rica. She plans to play volleyball at the University of Montana-Western where she will study psychology towards her goal of working as a therapist for young kids.
She wrote an outstanding extemporaneous essay, using only a dictionary, on the National Society DAR topic “Our American Heritage and Our Responsibility for Preserving It” with the focus question of “How will the essential actions of a good citizen meet the challenges that America faces in this decade?” Citizen judges evaluated the four good citizen qualities, reference letters and school records, which count for 50%, and the written essay for the other 50%. Oro Fino outside volunteer professional judges were Joy Novota, East Helena entrepreneur of Starz on Stage for many years and now Travel Club 406; Mary Bair, a 25-year employee of the Montana Board of Housing, Multifamily Affordable Housing program manager for the last 10 and 25 year director of the Clancy United Methodist Church choir; and Arlis Pfeffer, Montana City retiree from Helena College of Technology University of Montana as the HR officer.
