The Constantia chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution honored several local students during its lunch meeting Thursday at Cedar Point Country Club.

Sierra Leickert, a Lakeland High School senior, earned the DAR Good Citizen award at the city level. The honor netted her a $1,000 scholarship to assist with her tuition at the University of Virginia.

The two-part application for the award consisted of an essay on how the student is trying to manifest the qualities of a good citizen, as well as an official grade transcript and two letters of recommendation.

The second part requires the student to write an essay under the supervision of a teacher with a two-hour time limit on a topic assigned just before the student starts writing. No reference materials other than a dictionary are permitted.

Leickert wrote on the topic of freedoms and responsibilities changing in today’s America. While she said the basic freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution have not changed, some responsibilities have.

She said the award will be helpful to her in her pursuit of an education. She plans to major in psychology, with the goal of becoming a counselor of children.

“UVA is so expensive, but it’s definitely where I wanted to go,” she said.

She is a member of the National Honor Society, the National English Honor Society, the National Spanish Honor Society and the Future Business Leaders of America. She is vice president of the senior class, on the soccer and swimming teams and represented Lakeland on last year’s Peanut Fest court. She has volunteered with the March of Dimes, Alzheimer’s Walk, Toys for Tots and more.

Angel Knight, a junior at Lakeland, was honored in a separate competition for her essay on how Christopher Columbus’ courage and faith led to the European discovery of the New World.

“It was shocking,” she said of learning that she won. She had thought the essay was just a regular assignment in her history class.

“I just submitted it for a regular grade,” she said. She won at the city and district levels.

Knight is a member of the Anchor Club and the Suffolk Youth Advisory Council and participates in Upward Bound.

In addition, three Nansemond-Suffolk Academy students were honored for their American history essay contest wins.

Fifth-grader Anna Paisley Gray and sixth-grader Mason Rawls Harrell both earned city and district recognition. Seventh-grader Nicole Lavellee was honored at the city level.

That competition asked students to write a research paper on a forgotten black or American Indian hero of the Revolutionary War. Anna Paisley wrote on Skenando, an Oneida chief who supported the colonials in the war and was said to have provided corn to George Washington’s troops at Valley Forge.

“It was pretty interesting,” Anna said.