Marquette’s Makayla Backos captures DAR Good Citizen Scholarship – Shaw Local News Network

Marquette Academy’s Makayla Backos was named the recipient of the Daughters of the American Revolution Illinois Chapter’s Good Citizen Scholarship. (Charlie Ellerbrock)
While its said that good citizenship is its own reward, it certainly is nice to have it recognized whenever possible.
Makayla Backos, a senior at Marquette Academy, was named the recipient of the Illinois Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution Good Citizen Scholarship at a special ceremony Thursday afternoon at Reddick Mansion.
Backos was one of six finalists for the annual honor, along with Ayla Dorsey of Ottawa High School, Clara Bruno of Seneca High School, Ava Rosengren of Serena High School, Ella Park of Streator High School and Ayden Radke of Woodland High School.
As the chapter winner, Backos now advances to the district level for the chance to compete at the state and national levels.
“This is definitely a surprise,” Backos said. “I’m really grateful to get the opportunity to win, especially against such a good group of finalists. I was listening to everyone’s bios and couldn’t help but think what tough competition is was, that these are some great and talented people. … It’s good to know all my hard work has paid off.”
Here are the biographies of the finalists:
Backos, in addition to being a member of the student council and Crazy Cru spirit club, has shined as an athlete at Marquette, having served as captain of the volleyball and basketball teams, in basketball and poms at MA and in travel softball and volleyball in the offseasons. She also was the head coach of Marquette’s fifth- and sixth-grade volleyball teams.
Scholastically, she is a member of the Academic Bowl team, high honor roll and National Honor Society.
Backos also has taken dual enrollment classes at Illinois Valley Community College and plans on receiving an Associate of the Arts and Associate of Science in nursing. She already possesses her certified nursing assistant certification and works at Pleasant View Nursing Home.
After that, she plans to enroll at a four-year university and eventually plans to become a nurse practitioner.
Dorsey also is an athlete, participating in three seasons of varsity volleyball, serving as co-captain, along with two years of basketball and track, plus club volleyball and travel basketball. She received academic all-conference in both volleyball and basketball and has been a volunteer at sports camps every summer.
Dorsey also has been involved in the yearbook, is a member of the Student Leadership Team and Youth Alive Christian group at Ottawa High School, is active in her church and in the Praise Choir. She also assists with children’s ministry and Feed His Children, which provides food for local children in need, and has received National Rural and Small Town Recognition this year.
An honor roll member all four years, this two-year member of the National Honor Society plans to play volleyball for Olivet Nazarene University while studying engineering.
During her four years at Seneca, Bruno participated in track and field and was once tabbed Rookie of the Year, in addition to a career in basketball.
Musically, she took part as a percussionist in Jazz Band and Concert Band and played in the pit orchestra for three of the school’s musicals, as section leader leading her peers to compose and perform original ensemble pieces. Also a singer in the choir, she received the “Irish Pride of the Year” honor and was selected to participate in the Illinois Music Education Association.
Bruno is a member of the high honor roll, Spanish Club and the Superintendent’s Advisory Council. She has tutored children in math and reading and serves at local churches in various ways, including teaching kindergarten/preschool Sunday school. She also regularly plays her guitar at the local nursing home.
The Seneca student plans to attend Mary University in Bismarck, North Dakota, or Ave Maria University in Florida to become an educator.
Rosengren is a talented musician, having auditioned for the tough Illinois Music Education Assocation Band playing the flute. In doing so, she not only earned first chair honor at that prestigious level, but for her flute and her piccolo. She also is the winner of the Illinois Valley Symphony Orchestra’s Young Performers competition, was a finalist for the Chicago Flute Club Student Competition and played with the Eastern Illinois University Honors Band and the Little Ten Conference Honors Band.
Rosengren is the pianist for Serena High School Drama Club and flutist for Newark and Sandwich high schools’ spring musical pit orchestra.
Along the way, she was a member of the National Honor Society, the Academic Bowl team, the Art Club and the bass fishing team. She also works part time at Skydive Chicago.
She plans to double major in both flute performance and fisheries and aquatic sciences.
The Streator High School nominee is already the winner of the Good Citizen Award at her school. She is a member of the Streatorette Dance team, which was an IHSA state qualifier, and a member of the Adagio School of the Performing Arts, participating on that entity’s competitive dance team.
A member of the National Honor Society and a consistent member of the high honor roll, she is a member of Snowball, an anti-drugs group, all four years at SHS and is a recipient of the Academic All-Conference Award.
A kindergarten aide at St. Michael’s School for the first half of each day, Park also works at Dairy Queen, where she has been promoted to supervisor.
She plans to attend a four-year university, where she hopes to not only continue her dance career, but also hopes to received a bachelor’s degree in education or marketing.
Radke is a versatile athlete who has competed in wrestling and football – sports in which he’s been captain each of the past two seasons – as well as basketball and esports.
He is a member of the National Honor Society; the Key Club; the student council; and the Friends of Rachel, an organization named for a victim of the Columbine tragedy and dedicated to inspire positive changes in culture at school. In that light, he is a positive role model in his school, and his teachers have cited his work on anti-bullying and promoting positive relationships between NHS members and students with special needs.
He has received recognition for his performance on standardized testing and is the winner of the Robert G. Apple Character Award, the Presidential Excellence Awards and National Rural and Small Town Recognition.
Toward his goals, Radke works in coding and programming and eventually plans to go to a university to major in computer science. He was unable to attend the ceremony, as he was making a college visit to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston.
The Daughters of the American Revolution Illinois Chapter’s Good Citizen Scholarship finalists are (from left, front), Seneca’s Clara Bruno, Serena’s Ava Rosengren, Ottawa’s Ayla Dorsey, Marquette’s Makayla Backos and Streator’s Ella Park. Absent was Woodland’s Ayden Radke. (Charlie Ellerbrock)
Copyright © 2023 Shaw Local News Network
Copyright © 2023 Shaw Local News Network

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