A Child’s Journey Through Ellis Island: Guest Post by Matt Reese

This last Wednesday I had the honor of playing guest to the Daughters of the American Revolution. Well, that is not really so true. I was just a tag along, and whatever honor I had was really borrowed from my boy ‘Van Reese; but let me start at the beginning.

During the Autumn semester, My sons both attended the VHSA writing class held by Lyn Carradine each Friday. For the semester project, the kids could choose to write a novel or novella, or to write an essay for the DAR annual essay contest. The Daughters, as you might know, is a sorority composed of descendants of American Revolutionary veterans. Their goal is to preserve American culture and history through educational and philanthropic ventures; and one of these activities is the annual essay contest. Student essayists compete at the local clubs for the chance to move to State competitions and on to the national stage.

So, my eldest, Donovan chose to write on DAR’s annual topic, ‘A Child’s Journey Through Ellis Island. He explained, ‘I didn’t know anything about it [Ellis Island], and I wanted to learn.’ About two weeks ago, We received in the post an invitation to a ‘tea’ in honor of the winners. This was very exciting, and the Mrs. Reese tells me ‘Van read the invite over and over the afternoon it came, despite the fact that were yet unsure whether he had placed in the competition.

And so, it was with no small uncertainty that we arrived at the Northfield Villa public rooms on Wednesday. We were handed an agenda and ushered to a large banquet table. As we sat to wait, we saw on the program Donovan listed as a winner. As the event unfurled and time rolled on, it came time for ‘Van to step to the podium and read his essay and accept his award. Donovan was the first of the young people to read for the Annual Essay contest, and he blitzed through the two-and-change typed pages; and then one of the ladies pinned a medal on his chest. It was a great day for him, and for us.

Congratulations Donovan! We are all very proud!