Local Veteran Post selects achievers

Great to be back and I bring some rather interesting local community "stuff"! Turns out that our local VFW has been productive in the academia environment sponsoring and awarding scholarships. Read on-

The Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 10778 located in Western Springs, recently awarded two students for their respective entries in the annual Voice of Democracy and Patriots Pen essay contests. Both essay's focus on a national theme and are age appropriate.

The Patriots pen is for middle school/ junior high students and the theme for
2012/2013 is "Is Our Constitution Still Relevant". The Voice of Democracy is for high school students and the national theme for 2012 2013 is "What Would I Tell America's Founding Fathers" . Both contests, although essay in nature, are actually submitted in a speech format thereby allowing the participating students to develop their critical thinking skills and public speaking skills. As this is a national program. the contests commence at a local VFW post level and winners advance through VFW district, state and national echelons. As this is a scholarship program, winning participants do receive increasing funds as they advance through the various levels. For 2012, the national winner received a $30,000.00 scholarship while students whom placed in other categories also received scholarship funds. Additionally, as a student advances, that students along with par-ants are guests of the VFW on a state and or national level thereby receiving trips to either a state Capitol or Washington DC. These contests have been a prime tenant of the VFW Post 10778 since the post began.

The recipient of the Patriots Pen award for 2012-2013 is Katie Goldman. Katie is a student in seventh grad at St John of the Cross located in Western Springs. Katie is shown with committee chair Bruce Harken as he presents a prize of a $100.00 check to Katie. Katie did advance to the fourth district and placed second.

The recipient of the Voice of Democracy award for 2012- 2013 is Robert Schaefer. Robert is a sophomore student at Fenwick High School in Oak Park. Robert is shown with committee chair Bruce Harken as he presents a prize of a $500.00 check to Robert. Robert did advance to the fourth district also.

The members of Post 10778 truly value education in our communities and constantly strive to develop partnerships with all the schools in our communities. Information for the Patriots Pen and Voice of Democracy for 2013-14 is available by contacting committee chair Bruce Harken via mail at: VFW Post 10778. P.O. Box 73, Western Springs, IL 60558 or by visiting the post web page at: www.westernspringsvfw.webs.com   -  scholarships link.