Local students honor veterans in annual essay contest
”
Honor, praise and respect are what we should give to our
veterans, because they were ready to surrender their vitality to
save ours.
”
Local students honor veterans in annual essay contest
“Honor, praise and respect are what we should give to our veterans, because they were ready to surrender their vitality to save ours.”
These are not the words inscribed on a monument to fallen heroes – though they very well could be. These are the words written by Spring Grove School seventh-grader Brittany Lake, whose essay, “Sacrifice,” was selected the winner in the Annual Patriot’s Pen Essay Contest, sponsored by the Hollister Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9242.
Lake’s 389-word piece was judged first out of more than 60 local entries submitted by sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders. Their task was to expound upon the theme, “Why America’s Veterans Should Be Honored.”
Veterans, Lake said in her story, “need our help after they help us. After their infinite service to their country and its people, they definitely deserve it.”
For having the winning essay, Lake will receive a $200 check and she had her essay – along with two others from local contestants – entered in the district competition, which included writings from junior high school students from South San Francisco to King City.
One of those essays, by Spring Grove eighth-grader Stephen Singleton, was judged the best at the district competition and was advanced to the state level. Lake’s essay took third in the district.
“I was inspired by what these people do for our country,” said Singleton, whose two grandfathers and one great-grandfather were veterans.
While he said he didn’t give much thought to the importance of honoring veterans prior to writing his essay, Singleton said, “After this contest I think about it more often. I realize how great these people are.”
In his essay, Singleton, who was awarded a certificate and a $300 check for winning at district, said veterans should be in our thoughts daily.
“We need to take a moment from our busy lives and think about how fortunate we are to have veterans who have risked their lives, fought for our freedom, and left their families for us in order that we can live in a free country and have the freedoms that we have … America!”
Bob Burnham, the Patriots Pen contest chairman for the Hollister VFW, said the purpose of the contest is to “instill a sense of patriotism in children [and] an awareness of what veterans have done and what they continue to do for the country.”
The judging in this year’s contest, which included entries from Spring Grove, Marguerite Maze, Tres Pinos, Cienega, Sacred Heart and Southside, “was very close,” said Burnham.
Essays, most of which were entered as part of a class project, were scored without the judges knowing the child’s name, grade level or school. Nationally, more than 115,000 participate in the contest each year. The overall national winner receives a $10,000 savings bond and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C.
At the local level, every child that participated in the Patriots Pen contest will receive a certificate of merit. Eight runners-up received a $25 check to go along with the certificate. They were Singleton, Hannah Bianchi and Cade Vallejo of Spring Grove School; Michael Breen, Dalan Hoskins and Cooper Scherr of Sacred Heart; Ryan Ruiz of Cienega School; and Nicholas Vargas of Tres Pinos School.
