VFW announces essay winners, seeks art contest applications

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American patriotism is at the heart of three contests the Veterans of Foreign Wars conducts each year.

VFW Post 1925 in Seymour recently announced the winners of the Voice of Democracy and Patriot’s Pen essay contests, and the VFW Auxiliary now is looking for students to submit artwork for the Young American Creative Patriotic Art Contest.

Trinity Lutheran High School senior Rachel Onken was Post 1925’s winner in the Voice of Democracy essay contest, which is open to students in grades 9 through 12. She advanced to the district level to compete against 14 other post winners in southeastern Indiana and tied for second place.

Brownstown Central Middle School seventh-grader Caitlin Loper was the local post’s winner in the Patriot’s Pen essay contest, which is for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders. She also advanced to district.

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Both recently received cash prizes for winning the post level, and Onken also will receive some money for her district showing.

The 11 district winners advance to the state level, and then those winners move on to the national contests.

Onken said she found out about Voice of Democracy from her school guidance counselor, Lori Moses. She entered Patriot’s Pen when she was in middle school, but this was her first time doing the high school contest.

“When I found out about it and I found out that it was with the VFW, I like very patriotic things, so I thought I would write the essay and do the voice recording for it,” she said.

The theme was “American History: Our Hope for the Future.”

“I kind of went a different route with it,” Onken said. “I talked about some of the worst times in American history and how those times give us more hope than perhaps even the best of times.”

After writing the essay, students had to do an audio recording of themselves reading it and be between three and five minutes. They are judged on dictation, delivery and meeting the time limit.

Onken said she has written essays for other scholarships, but this was her first time having to do a voice recording.

She was happy to be rewarded for her efforts.

“It was really exciting,” she said. “This is really the first scholarship I’ve gotten besides merit. This is really nice.”

Post 1925 received four entries for Voice of Democracy and 10 for Patriot’s Pen.

The Patriot’s Pen theme was “America’s Gift to My Generation,” and it had to be 250 words or less.

Loper said she and other students in Janet Neal’s class wrote essays. She said she used ideas suggested by her grandmother and Neal.

“We talked about how tangible things are not as important as intangible things,” Loper said. “I really enjoyed thinking about all the things we have to be thankful for as Americans.”

In her essay, Loper said the first gift that came to mind is freedom. She noted the freedoms of worship, speech, expressing views and pursuing the career of your choice regardless of race or gender.

Other gifts she included were opportunities to get a good education, have access to medical care and have clean water. She also said Americans are fortunate to have people willing to protect others, including members of the military and police officers, and have the ability to elect leaders to represent them.

She said she felt very honored when she found out she won.

“I’m sure there were a lot of great essays, so for mine to be chosen felt really great,” she said. “I think it is a good idea for there to be a patriotic essay for middle-schoolers because it can make them think about all the things they should be grateful for. I think it is important to remember our veterans and all they have done for us.”

Barb Barger, VFW Auxiliary District 9 president, and Bob Kinzie, Post 1925 financial officer, judged both contests at the post level.

“It’s an outreach to get kids thinking about patriotism and that type of thing and learning about what we’re about as a VFW,” Kinzie said.

“I think it’s part of what we have to do as far as our VFW and our auxiliary is to reach out to our youth and get them more involved to know what our comrades gave in their service to our country,” Barger said. “To know that they see that and respond back to it, that’s what these contests are all about.”

The national VFW Auxiliary has sponsored the Young American Creative Patriotic Art Contest since 1979 as a way to recognize up-and-coming artists and encourage patriotism in youth.

Students in grades 9 through 12 at public, private or parochial schools and homeschooled students are eligible to apply. The maximum age is 18, and students must be a U.S. citizen or a U.S. national.

Art must be on paper or canvas. Watercolor, pencil, pastel, charcoal, tempera, crayon, acrylic, pen-and-ink or oil may be used. Canvas entries should be on stretcher frames or canvas board. Other entries must be matted on white. Entries should not be framed.

Art should be no smaller than 8-inch-by-10-inch but no larger than 18-inch-by-24-inch, not including the mat. An entry form should be completed and attached to the back, and a typed explanation of patriotism expressed in art in 150 words or less must be submitted.

Digital art and photography will not be accepted.

The deadline to submit is March 31.

Artwork submitted to Post 1925 will be entered into the state competition. The first-place winner from each state will compete for national awards totaling $21,000.

Tom Jackson, commander of Post 1925, also encouraged Onken and other local high school seniors to apply for the Post 1925 and VFW Auxiliary scholarships.

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VFW Auxiliary Young American Creative Patriotic Art Contest

Who is eligible?

Any student in grades 9 through 12 enrolled in a public, private or parochial high school or home study program in the United States.

Maximum student age of 18 at time of local entry.

Student must be a U.S. citizen or a U.S. national.

Applicant does not have to be related to a VFW or VFW Auxiliary member to participate, but the student must attend school in the same state as the sponsoring VFW Auxiliary.

What is the scholarship amount?

The first-place winner from each state competes for national awards totaling $21,000.

What are the submission requirements?

Art must be on paper or canvas. Watercolor, pencil, pastel, charcoal, tempera, crayon, acrylic, pen-and-ink or oil may be used.

Digitial art and photography are not accepted.

Submit canvas entries on stretcher frames on canvas board. Other entries must be matted on white.

Do not frame.

Art should be no smaller than 8-inch-by-10-inch but no larger than 18-inch-by-24-inch, not including the mat.

Complete entry form and attach it to the back of the entry.

Submit a typed explanation of patriotism expressed in art in 150 words or less.

When is the deadline?

The entry deadline is March 31. Artwork should be mailed to VFW Post 1925, Attn: Barb Barger, 311 S. Jackson Park Drive, Seymour, IN 47274.

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Voice of Democracy essay contest

Trinity Lutheran High School senior Rachel Onken

“American History: Our Hope for the Future”

In high schools throughout the nation, students are learning of the best and worst times in American history. Some of the most devastating times in American history are the same ones that provide the most hope for our future. For as George Santayana stated, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” By learning of such atrocities as the Civil War, the Great Depression and Sept. 11, the high school students that become our future will be able to avert similar horrors from happening again.

The Civil War was a battle based on slavery and states’ rights. It ripped our nation in two and was the deadliest war our country has ever seen. At its core was the notion that not all Americans were in fact American. The South believed the North had ostracized them, so they formed the Confederacy where slavery and racism were alive and well. Today, Americans have many disagreements with each other. Whether it be immigration, tax reform, the culture war or even states’ rights, Americans seem to be split down the middle. However, it is vital that even when we disagree with each other, Americans still view each other as American. We may not like each other, but we must love each other. At the end of the day, we are all Americans, and I believe my generation understands this.

Another time in American history that my generation must understand is the Great Depression. The Great Depression was a time when every American saw hardships in his financial endeavors. For me, I not only learned about this dark time in American history through a textbook, I learned about it from my grandmother, who lived through it. She remembers the stock market crash and the consistent struggle her family had to pay the bills. Americans were living on scraps and were losing their jobs in spades. The economy crashed, and American innovation was all but present. This time in American history speaks to our future economy. We must never let our economy or stock market crash to the lows of the Great Depression. As Americans, we must pursue both invention and innovation in order to create new jobs and new products for consumers. For as long as there is innovation and a desire for new products, there will be jobs for hardworking Americans.

Lastly, an event that hits Americans the freshest today, Sept. 11, 2001, is a day in American history that my generation must use as hope for our future. The day of Sept. 11 and the word “hope” are an unlikely pair. The day when two world trade centers went down along with nearly 3,000 American lives is not a happy memory. It is a fresh wound, but it is a wound to be learned from. Evil has and always will exist in our world, and we must learn to combat it. It takes its form in radical Islam, authoritarian governments and even in our own communities. Evil is hard to pinpoint, but when it is, it is in celebration that it is defeated. Since the attacks on Sept. 11, our government has led efforts that killed Osama bin Laden and most recently overtook the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria’s hold on Raqqa. We will never know the number of lives that these efforts saved, but it is self-evident that they have indeed saved the lives of numerous people. This is the hope that Sept. 11 gives to our country. This terrible event brought our nation together and led us to agree on one issue — we must fight evil.

The Civil War, the Great Depression and Sept. 11 are all events in American history that give our nation hope. They are the toughest and most brutal times in our history, but the lessons that my generation learns from them will prevent similar occurrences in the future. As a nation, we must understand that we are all Americans, and that together, we must fight evil in order to create a better tomorrow.

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Patriot’s Pen essay contest

Brownstown Central Middle School seventh-grader Caitlin Loper

“America’s Gift to My Generation”

The first gift that comes to mind when I think of America’s gift to my generation is the gift of freedom. We should remember that freedom covers many areas. One freedom that we enjoy is the freedom to worship the way we please. Another freedom is the freedom of speech. We are allowed to express our views. We also have the freedom to pursue the career of our choice regardless of race or gender. However, we must be sure our freedoms do not infringe on other people’s freedoms.

One gift that we should really appreciate is the fact that we can get a good education in this country. Even people who have little money can work hard and win scholarships or work their way through college.

Although we hear a lot of discussion about medical care on the news, adequate medical care is available to most people. There are many programs that help to pay for various types of medical problems. Most local hospitals have personnel that are glad to help people find a way to get the help they need.

In our country, we have clean water. In many countries, the lack of clean water is a major health issue, but in America, our past leaders were foresighted enough to make sure safe and sanitary water is available to everyone.

We are very fortunate in our country that we have people who protect us. Our military is one of the greatest and best trained in the world. We also have many state, county and city police officers in our country whose job is to keep us safe.

Our forefathers wanted a government that was of the people and for the people. We are able to elect the leaders that we feel will represent us. This is a privilege and a gift that many other countries don’t have.

All of the things that I have mentioned are part of our lives only because the men and women who brought America into existence had a dream and were willing to work hard and fight for that dream. This is our heritage, and to me, this is America’s gift to my generation — to have a dream that we build on what they lived and died for and that we also are willing to work hard and fight for that dream.

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