Eight middle and high school students received awards on February 15 in the annual American Legion Essay Contest sponsored by the Robert E. Coulter, Jr., Post and Auxiliary in La Grange.

This year’s contest received 107 essays from students who competed in three categories according to their grade level. Emma Decker, an eighth grader from Saint Cletus School, won first place in the Class I category for grades 7-8. Lyons Township High School sophomore Karenna Lange won first place in the Class II competition for students in grades 9-10, and LTHS senior Nathan Stables won first place in the Class III competition for students in grades 11-12.

Megan Kern, an eighth grader at Saint Cletus School, took second place and Genevieve Lampert, an eighth grader from Saint John’s Lutheran School, won third place in the Class I category.

Deanna Keen, a freshman at Riverside Brookfield High School, won second place in the Class II category. Two LTHS seniors, Matthew Smith and Helana Hernandez, took second and third place, respectively, in the Class III competition.

Students were challenged to write an essay on the topic “America’s Constitutional Freedoms” as part of a statewide contest sponsored by the American Legion organization in Illinois.

La Grange first place winners Decker, Lange, and Stables will now compete with winners from across suburban Cook County. Competition will continue up the American Legion’s regional organization until the best essays in Illinois are chosen in June. 

In the 2011 contest, La Grange winner Karenna Lange’s essay was awarded second place in the state in Class II competition. Students whose essays win at the state level can take home up to $1,200 in scholarship awards.

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