VFW District 13 essay winners honored

VFW Post and Auxiliary #7395 have announced the winners of the Youth Essay, Patriot’s Pen and Voice of Democracy contests for 2014.

Post winners

The Youth Essay contest is for children in grades three through five and is awarded exclusively by the VFW Department of Washington state, with judging at the local post, district and state levels. The state winner receives a savings bond. Among Odessa third-graders, Charlie Nixon was in first place, Jacob Scrupps second place and Destiny Wiles third place. Among fourth-graders, Sarah Hayashi and Collin Martin tied for first place, while Isaiah Chavez was third. Fifth-grade winners were Emily Nixon first place, Nathan Carstensen second place and Emily Scrupps third place.

The Patriot’s Pen contest is for grades six through eight and is a post, district, state and national program. David Hayashi took first place and Jonathan Hayashi second.

Patriot’s Pen is a nationwide competition that gives students in grades 6, 7 and 8 the opportunity to write essays expressing their views on democracy. Those entering must write a 300-400-word essay based on a different patriotic theme selected each year. The national first-place winner receives a $5,000 savings bond and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington D.C. The top national winners each receive a savings bond worth anywhere from $500 to $5,000.

Voice of Democracy is a high school program requiring a written paper and a three-to-five minute audio presentation. Students are judged on the audio portion in this post, district, state and national program. Created in 1947, the Voice of Democracy scholarship program annually provides more than $3 million in scholarships. The first-place winner, who competes with all the first-place VFW Department (i.e., state) winners, receives a $30,000 scholarship paid directly to the recipient’s American university, college or vocational/technical school. Elizabeth Hayashi is the local winner, but she finished second in the district competition and did not move on to the state level.

District winners

The state is divided into several districts, and the local post is in District 13, as are the VFW posts in Quincy, Ritzville, Wilbur and Othello.

Youth Essay winners compete subsequently at the district level. District 13 results for third grade are: Bridget Jones of Quincy in first place, Jacob Scrupps of Odessa in second place and Charlie Nixon of Odessa in third place. Fourth-grade results are: Mya Nguyen of Quincy in first place, Sarah Hayashi of Odessa second place and Collin Martin of Odessa third place. Fifth-grade results are: Collette Nichols of Ritzville first place and Emily Nixon of Odessa second place.

District-wide Patriot’s Pen winners were all from Ritzville, with Benjamin Clinesmith, John Harder and Linnea Schafer taking first, second and third place, respectively.

Voice of Democracy district winners were Kiona Garza of Othello in first place, Elizabeth Hayashi of Odessa second and Tony Martine of Quincy third.

VFW and Auxiliary members expressed their congratulations to all who participated. Auxiliary member Leora Nixon said the patriotic themes for 2015 have already been selected, and anyone who would like to begin working on their essay over the summer is asked to call her at 982-2847. She will provide an application form and the theme on which the essay is to be based. Additional information is also available from the VFW website at http://www.vfw.org.