Gracie Scott does not take her freedom for granted because she knows it came at a cost.
When asked to write about what freedom means to her for a school assignment, the Brownstown Central Middle School sixth-grader thought hard about the subject, sat down and penned a short but impactful essay on the topic.
“Freedom is a privilege to me,” Scott wrote. “It means that someone has sacrificed something for my freedom. They have gave up their family, friends and some have even given their lives.”
Scott said people need to be mindful their freedom is not just handed to them.
“People have fought in many wars to keep the United States and its people free,” she wrote. “I am thankful each and every day for the brave men and women that have helped keep us a free country.”
Her work was entered by teacher Janet Neal in the Sertoma Club of Jackson County’s annual “What Freedom Means to Me” Essay Contest. All sixth-grade classes in the county were invited to participate. Some teachers use the essay contest as a class writing assignment.
After reading through all of the entries, Sertoma members selected Scott’s essay as the best in the county, awarding her first place.
She was asked to read her essay aloud Wednesday night during the club’s annual Freedom Banquet at First United Methodist Church in Seymour.
Scott said the freedoms she appreciates the most are being able to believe in God, going to school to receive an education and expressing herself without fear of judgment.
“Everyone has the freedom to be who they are meant to be,” she said.
Second place went to Mallory Klosterman, a sixth-grader at St. John’s Lutheran School Sauers.
Klosterman said the most important aspect of freedom for her is that of religion.
“I can talk about God and not get in trouble for talking about him at school or my house,” she wrote. “Being able to talk about God is an amazing thing.”
She said freedom also is amazing because she can attend school and learn different things and play sports.
In her essay, Klosterman thanked the men and women in the military for serving the country and protecting her freedoms, giving her the opportunity to do the activities she enjoys most, such as showing pigs, taking care of her dog and being with her family.
“This is what freedom means to me,” she said.
Klosterman is a student of teacher Kim Sullivan.
Other individual school winners were Michael Wright from Immanuel Lutheran School, Valeria Galicia from St. Ambrose Catholic School, Gabriel Adams from Medora Elementary School, Katie Cottrill from the Seymour Middle School Sixth Grade Center and Victoria Huff from Sandy Creek Christian Academy.
Each student received an American flag set, a pin and a copy of the Constitution, and the winner and runners-up received a monetary award, too.
Having a father who served 10 years in the U.S. Marine Corps and is currently a captain in the National Guard, Wright understands what sacrifice for freedom means.
“While he is away serving our country, I know the sacrifices our family makes is for our freedoms and our lives in America,” he wrote.
Besides his dad, Wright has 17 great-grandfathers who served during the Revolutionary War, he said.
“I am proud to know that my ancestors have fought for our freedoms over the years,” he wrote in his essay.
Wright is a student of teacher Charlie Smith.
Over the past six years, he has joined his baseball team in placing flags on local veterans’ graves.
“I know that each of those veterans sacrificed for the freedoms that I have today,” he wrote.
Katie Cottrill, a student of teacher Jennifer Miller, chose to write about a trip she took to Washington, D.C., and how it shaped her feelings of what freedom means to her.
Having visited Gettysburg, Arlington National Cemetery, the Capitol building, the Korean, Vietnam and World War II memorials and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, Cottrill said she has a greater appreciation of freedom.
“That has to be one of my favorite trips because before, I just wanted to go on vacation, but as I was leaving, I felt that freedom means so much more than being able to do what I want,” she wrote. “It’s about the people that made it happen and the people it was meant for.”
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Winners in the Sertoma Club of Jackson County’s annual Freedom Essay Contest
First place: Gracie Scott, Brownstown Central Middle School
Second place: Mallory Klosterman, St. John’s Lutheran School Sauers
Other school winners: Michael Wright, Immanuel Lutheran School; Valeria Galicia, St. Ambrose Catholic School; Gabriel Adams, Medora Elementary School; Katie Cottrill, Seymour Middle School Sixth Grade Center; and Victoria Huff, Sandy Creek Christian Academy.
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