was created by AzFRW to honor the memory of an extremely active
Republican woman, Dodie Londen. Dodie served as chairman of the
Arizona Republican Party and was active in Arizona politics for
decades. Dodie set a high example of how women can be effective
and successful in the political arena in a volunteer capacity by
working hard to register Republicans and by getting Republicans
elected to office.
Dodie Londen passed away in 2006, after
suffering for many years with severe back problems. It is in her
honor that AzFRW will award a yearly monetary scholarship to
young women in the Arizona Teenage Republicans. The criteria for
the state TARS scholarship states that the recipients must remain
active in TARS and use the monetary award to attend the TARS
National Leadership Conference each July in Washington, DC.
Recipients for 2010, were Mariah Curtin and
Elizabeth Lind. A plaque with the recipient’s names will
be installed at the Arizona Republican Party Headquarters in
Phoenix and will be updated every year.
Mariah Curtin will be a Senior at Sinagua
High School in the fall. She is a member of the National Honor
Society and the “All-Stars” positive peer leadership training
program where she is involved in the community and school
service and substance abuse work. She is also a certified
“All-Stars” leadership Retreat trainer. Mariah’s current GPA is
4.124. She has been on the school’s dance team for three years.
She was the Junior Varsity dance Captain her sophomore year.
Last January, her dance team performed at the 2010 FED EX Orange
Bowl in Miami. Mariah is an avid runner; she has completed two
half-marathons and is training now for more. 2010 marks her 11th
year as a member of the Girl Scouts of America. Mariah has
earned her Bronze and Silver Awards in scouting and is planning
to complete her Gold Award. She was recently asked by the Mayor
of Flagstaff to apply to serve on the Flagstaff City Youth
Council. Outside of school, she enjoys tap dancing and playing
the acoustic guitar. Mariah is a member of the Living Chrst
Lutheran church Youth Group. After high school, Mariah hopes to
pursue a degree in Pre-Medicine. Mariah considers herself to be
a dedicated political conservative and is honored to represent
Flagstaff at this year’s Teenage Republicans’ trip to
Washington, D.C.
Elizabeth Lind lives in Tempe. She and her
siblings have been home schooled their entire lives. She is
currently at sophomore/junior grade school level. Her favorite
school subject is history and she enjoys her home school
physical education cooperative. She has participated in the
President’s Run for Life for over three years. Her family owns
two small family businesses that she helps with. She likes to
camp and do target shooting. She plays the piano and is looking
forward to her next recital. She has participated in local
volleyball clubs and volunteers at her church.
Elizabeth’s main interest is politics. She
works with her mom’s small political consulting business. She
enjoys being able to learn about grassroots campaigning. She’s
worked on over ten campaigns including municipal and statewide
elections. She has helped with everything from phone banking
and walking neighborhoods to poll sitting and helping to gather
signatures with adults. She is currently interning on a
Congressional campaign.
Elizabeth has been a member of the East
Valley Home School Republicans (HomesTARS) for 3 years. She is
the current vice-chair of the club. At the state TARS
convention this year at the Arizona State Capitol, she was
elected Vice-Chair of the State Teenage Republicans and sworn
into office by Sheriff Joe Arpaio. She enjoys organizing events
and fundraising and helping local candidates with their
campaigns. She is grateful for the opportunity to represent
Arizona at the National TARS Convention in Washington, D.C.
