Mendota High School senior Twila Martinson earned the DAR Award, while classmate Perris Stachlewitz was named the recipient of the SAR Award.
The citizenship awards are given to students who demonstrate dependability, service, leadership and patriotism.
Martinson, daughter of Todd and Lisa Martinson, participated in tennis, basketball track and field, National Honor Society, Spanish National Honor Society, scholastic bowl, math team, student council and homecoming committee. She was on the honor roll for six semesters and was an All-Big Northern Conference scholar-athlete.
She has volunteered at her church, has helped organizations such as Feed My Starving Children and Kids Against Hunger, served as a Salvation Army bell ringer, participated in Interact, helped at Rotary Club and Lion’s Club corn sales, volunteered at the PADs homeless shelter and donated blood to the American Red Cross and Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center.
After graduating MHS, Martinson plans to attend a four-year university and study material engineering.
Stachlewitz, daughter of Jennifer and Rusty Stachlewitz, has participated in band, choir, Interact — for which she is now president, tennis, madrigal jester and drama club.
She started a sock and coat drive as a sophomore through Interact, attended the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership seminar, volunteered at the Midwest food bank, worked at the information booth at the Mendota Sweet Corn Festival, helped at a summer youth tennis camp and has volunteered time for a number of service projects, including repainting dugouts at a baseball field, working at Woodhaven haunted house, and serving as a Salvation Army bell ringer.
After high school, Stachlewitz plans to attend IVCC then transfer to a four-year school to study speech pathology. She plans to get a masters degree and get a job at a children’s hospital.