Daughters of the American Revolution, Good Citizen Award Winner — Walter Helvin
Walter Helvin represents Ghidotti Early College High School. Walter was selected to be Captain John Oldham’s Chapter Good Citizen which meant he moved on to the District II level. From there, he won as the District II Good Citizen, and moved on to State!
Walter has been active in many school activities including Ghidotti’s School Site Council and Associated Student Body. He attended the California Association of Student Councils 2023 Student Advocacy Conference. He is a member of the California Scholarship Federation and Key Club which are academic and service-based clubs.
Walter participated in training classes for Mental Health First Aid. He tutored other students, and as a part of his leadership he started a mentoring program called NEST (Nurturing Each Student Together). He is very proud of his advocating for a soccer team at his high school, and finally after three years, he played on the varsity soccer team during their very first season!
While serving our community, Walter has been a leader of Nevada County Sunrise, a climate advocacy group and served on several environmentally focused groups to improve our local watershed, trails, and open space. He has volunteered for the local foodbank and local fairgrounds. He is a commissioner on the Nevada County Youth Commission and “wants to represent the youth of our county to serve our entire community better by elevating important issues to the local government.”
Walter attended the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards and the National World War II Museum’s Student Leadership Academy during the summer. This year he had an opportunity to job shadow the Nevada City Planner helping her with the city’s Commercial Street project. In Walter’s statement about the four qualities of being a Good Citizen he states, “As any citizen, we have a responsibility to engage in our community and work to give back to those that have helped us as well as be an example to those that will follow after us.”
Walter plans to go to a college next year, but applications haven’t been responded to yet, so the exact location is in doubt. He is interested in studying urban planning and environmental policies.
We wish Walter the best of everything and hope he returns to Nevada County someday!