Earth Day Festival

Earth Day Festival

Attendance: 7 members (5 peewees), 2 youth guests, 7 seniors, and 1 senior guest

Contests: Conservation, Membership, Registrar

Members came together for our annual Earth Day festival celebration at Forest Park. We welcomed a new prospective family at our meeting and discussed their genealogy. During the meeting we announced that the society received a 2nd Place and an Honorable Mention on national contests. After the meeting, members and their families were able to explore the Earth Day festival and learn ways to recycle and care for their earth here in St. Louis.

Conservation Contest: Members learned about ways to recycle and care for their earth through the booths at the Earth Day Festival.

Membership: Increase membership in your local society by encouraging active participation in society activities. A Punchbowl invitation was shared on Facebook.

Registrar: Plan fun and interactive events that will engage members at the society level.

April Meeting: Earth Day Festival

Awards were given to members who weren't
able to attend State Conference

Plenty of people attended this fun-loaded meeting at Forest Park. 5 Members, 5 seniors, 2 prospective members, 1 visiting C.A.R. member, 1 visiting DAR member, and 1 other adult guest attended.

We gave out awards to members who were absent from State Conference. We also welcomed a new prospective member and signed his papers. Then we went out into the Earth Day Festival and learned about our Conservation Program. We learned about the how to protect our earth and its environment. Another thing we learned about was weathering & erosion, and how littering can affect our waterways.

-Marcus, age 14

Members Modeling Weathering and Erosion

February Meeting: Conservation, National Merit Award, & Patriotic Education

Member holds the American flag.

Patriotic Education

We watched a few episodes of Liberty's Kids and discussed what happened as we went and why it was significant. The first episode we watched was the very first episode. It goes over the Boston Tea Party. We talked about why the Boston Tea Party happened, and who was involved in it. The second episode was about the Intolerable Acts, which raised taxes against the colonists will and the colonists began to get angry.

We also talked about the book that the 3 oldest members read. (We passed it around between the meetings throughout the year.The book is called Revolutionary War on Wednesday.  In the book, Washington crossed the Delaware River, and it was about the surprise attack on Trenton.

Reading the book and watching the TV shows put the information in a more fun way to understand the history of the Revolutionary War.

- Marcus, age 13

"I don't really pay attention in history, but this was different. It helped me learn in a fun way. Telling the story made me feel like I was there."

-Corban, age 10

PeeWees holding up their recycling display.

Conservation

Members were able to sort items for recycling with a sticker craft activity. They explained why each item went in each bin as they went. They presented it to the adults afterwards.

National Merit

Seniors worked together on the National Merit contest and divided up contest entries for National and State contests.

We put our hand over our heart for Pledge of Allegiance.

Business Meeting

Members voted on delegates to State Conference, donations to the Tamassee DAR Mountain School, and to National Funds. There were 6 members, 1 prospective, and 4 seniors in attendance. We have a new prospective family, who will be attending in April.

November: Veteran's Day Program

Members at Veteran's Day Memorial Service

Members attended a fully packed day of learning about Veteran's day at Jefferson Barracks Park and Cemetery. There were 6 members, 1 prospective member, and 7 seniors in attendance.

Member explaining the Zimmerman Telegram

First, members attended the "Over Here: World War I from Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis and Missouri" exhibit at the Old Ordnance Room at Jefferson Barracks Park. There, they learned about the Zimmerman Telegram and how it started World War I. The older members tried to explain it to us on video (see above and below).

Members explaining the Zimmerman Telegram

Second, member attended a wreath laying ceremony sponsored by the St. Louis-Jefferson Chapter DAR. Members helped pass out goodie bags to veterans.

Members gave goodie bags to veterans.

Third, members placed a wreath at the World War I memorial, to honor those who fought in the war they learned about earlier in the day.

Members placed wreaths at the WWI memorial.

October Field Trip: Cahokia Mounds

All the members in 1!

5 members, 1 prospective member, and 6 seniors visited Cahokia Mounds to learn about the Organizing Secretary, Assistant Organizing Secretary, and American Indians programs.

Organizing Secretary Program: Members looked for information about the Lewis and Clark expedition, and learned ways that the American Indians helped the expedition to be successful.

Assistant Organizing Secretary Program: Members learned about archaeology and how it changes our understanding of history as we learn more about how people lived in the past.

American Indians Program: Members learned about how the Indians lived at Cahokia when it was first built, and during our countries early years. They learned about how the Indians helped our ancestors and the Lewis and Clark expedition. They got a lot of pictures!

September Meeting: Missouri Botanical Garden

BEES!

Buzz 

6 Members, 1 Prospective, and 6 Seniors took a field trip to Missouri Botanical Garden and had lots of fun learning about plants from Missouri. We also signed 2 documents that helped Alexander McNair society grow by 2 new members!
Attendees learned about the conservation program along with many different plants from Missouri. They learned about a lot of things like bees, plants, and programs yet still had time to hug trees and have fun!

-Marcus, Age 13

Tree 

They also hugged some trees.

August Field Trip: State Workshop

6 members, 1 prospective, and 8 seniors traveled to Columbia, Missouri for the Missouri State Society Children of the American Revolution (M.S.S.C.A.R.) State Workshop. Several of our members are state officers or chairmen, so they wrote skits to help share their projects with the rest of the members. They also were able to participate in crafts during the senior meeting.

Officers and chairmen wrote their own skits and invited others to join them.

Before the meeting, members and seniors participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at a veteran's memorial in Columbia. One of our senior leaders is the Senior State President and led the memorial.

Senior State President

An Alexander McNair Senior played the bagpipes.

Members also learned about this year's state project, Have a Heart: Support Operation Gratitude. You can learn more about the program at their website: