GREAT FALLS — A Hellgate High School junior recently won a statewide contest for her essay on American Red Cross founder Clara Barton and will receive an expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., this summer.
The Montana Electric Cooperatives Association holds an essay contest each year to select one student from across Montana who will get a fully paid trip to the nation’s capital as part of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association Youth Tour.
This year’s essay contest question was: If you could have dinner with one prominent Washington, D.C., figure, whether from the past or present, who would that person be and why?
Maizy Miller chose Barton, a Civil War nurse who founded the American Red Cross in 1881 and served as the organization’s president for 23 years.
Barton is one of the most honored women in American history and was known as the Angel of the Battlefield for her work providing supplies and care to wounded soldiers. Her legacy continues in Red Cross chapters across the country, including here in Montana, a news release notes.
“You will recognize Clara’s work in the school gym emergency shelter set up for wildfire evacuees of a raging Montana wildfire,” Miller wrote. “You will recognize her work when a car accident victim needs donated blood in an emergency room. You will recognize her work when victims of hurricanes need clean water, or when a drowning victim is given CPR by a person who took a lifesaving class.”
Miller’s winning essay recently appeared in Rural Montana, a magazine with a circulation of 130,000 readers produced by the Montana Electric Cooperatives’ Association. Her selection fittingly comes during March, which is Red Cross Month and Women’s History Month.
“I was inspired to write about Clara Barton because she was fearless,” Miller said. “In a time when a woman’s roles were limited outside the home, she volunteered on Civil War battlefields and founded the American Red Cross. I play hockey on the Missoula boy’s team so I know that sometimes can be hard to be a girl in male-dominated spaces. Clara Barton is a role model that inspires all of us to follow our dreams and better the communities around us, no matter who we are.”
The Montana Red Cross was honored that Miller chose Barton.
“We are so impressed with Maizy’s well-researched and well-written essay and are thrilled she chose our founder and inspiration as her subject,” Montana Red Cross Executive Director Diane Wright said. “We thank Maizy for shining a light on all the important work our volunteers do across Montana every single day.”
Visit montanaredcross.org to learn more about the Montana Red Cross or to volunteer.
Read Miller’s full essay here.
