McNary High School senior Megan Curran had not planned to pursue the honor of Dennis Koho Future First Citizen until local Rotary club members recommended she do so.
As a junior last spring, Curran won the Keizer Rotary Club’s essay competition with a theme of community service. Then, she said members of the club and her school career coach encouraged her to apply for the Future First Citizen honor and scholarship awarded by the Keizer Chamber of Commerce. Koho was a former Keizer mayor who died in 2019.
Curran has built a resume of volunteer work in Keizer and enjoyed representing the community in the Distinguished Young Women of Keizer program.
“I was just really inspired by the legacy that he left,” Curran said. “I just thought it would be an honor to potentially be recognized that same way.”
The $1,000 scholarship awarded in January will help fund her first year of college, which she said will likely be Willamette University.
Curran said she is honored to be associated with the award and Koho.
“I’m just really grateful for all the people that have helped get me to here,” Curran said, citing her family, teachers and community members.
Curran is the president of McNary’s National Honors Society, organizing community service programs like the “Trunk or Treat” program around Halloween.
She is a leader in her school’s theater program, where she helped organize community service projects with her peers. One such project, which she highlighted in her application, involved organizing a food drive last fall.
At the time, the families of some classmates were at risk of losing financial assistance for food due to a federal government shutdown. Curran said she and her peers were concerned about the impact on McNary families and wanted to help.
“That was something that I was really happy we were able to organize,” Curran said.
Curran has assisted with Keizer parades, including the Keizer Holiday Lights Parade and KeizerFEST, volunteers to dress up as a fairytale character for children at events through the Oregon Fairytale project and helped organize a youth leadership summit in Salem.
Curran has volunteered as a Sunday school teacher at St. Edward Catholic Church since her freshman year, working with preschoolers and kindergartners. She said she grew up attending the church and watched her mother and sister volunteer, leading her to do the same.
To her, volunteering is “common sense” and a continuation of family practices.
Her parents, a second grade teacher and a counselor at Whitaker Middle School, dedicate extra hours to support students, community or church members and neighbors, she said. Curran values community and believes residents “can do a lot for each other.”
“Part of being able to get that support from your community, you have to give back to it,” Curran said.
In her career, Curran hopes to work with children as a theater teacher. She is passionate about theater, and said McNary’s program allowed her to build a strong community with peers.
“I want to take that community I’ve found and potentially make one of my own, when I become a teacher,” Curran said.
NEWS TIP? Contact reporter Krista Kroiss at [email protected].
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