Kennebunk High School senior Eva MacDonald received the 2025 Edmund Muskie Democracy in Action Award in the amount of $1,000. MacDonald, according to a news release, is the sixth recipient of the award, given annually by the Democrats of the Kennebunks and Arundel to a high school student who best exemplifies the spirit of civic engagement by making a difference in their school and community through political and non-political actions.

MacDonald plans to attend the University of New England in the fall, where she will prepare for a career in the medical field. As a Kennebunk High School student, she has taken every life science course offered and is particularly drawn to anatomy and physiology as well as nutrition.

Her service as a teacher’s assistant in a sophomore biology class and her academic science work led her to receive the Rochester Institute of Technology Science and Math Award in spring 2024.

As web editor and social media manager for the Kennebunk High School newspaper, she wrote two of the top-read articles in the newspaper’s history. The first article was written about contract negotiations after she interviewed teachers and the superintendent. The piece spread quickly through the town’s social media and was sent to RSU 21 school board members. The second article brought awareness regarding the impact staff shortages had both on staff and students.

Since her sophomore year, MacDonald has participated in Maine’s Youth and Government Conference in Augusta. The 2024 conference was held a few days after the presidential election. She explains in her application essay that she “was apprehensive knowing some would cheer the results while others felt hopeless. I had to remind myself, and my committee, we had to focus on the bills in front of us and work together. The focus wasn’t on political parties but on achieving community improvement.” During this experience, she spoke to a Youth House of Representatives of more than 100 of her peers, successfully led committees, wrote and passed bills and advocated for the well-being of educators in Maine.

As a member of the Unified Club, a program that pairs athletes with intellectual disabilities with student partners, she has partnered with students with disabilities on and off the basketball court. She attended the Unified Summit in Portland where she met people from other Unified schools and learned more ways to boost the positive impacts of Unified at KHS.

Democrats of the Kennebunks and Arundel Scholarship Committee chair Linda DeFelice said that MacDonald’s application best demonstrated the spirit of civic engagement.

“Her extensive involvement and leadership in school and community activities are impressive, as is her commitment to further develop her community involvement through journalism and politics,” said DeFelice.

To read MacDonald’s articles, visit theherdkhs.net/staff_name/eva-macdonald/. For more information about the Democrats of the Kennebunks and Arundel, visit www.kennebunkdems.org.