For most organizations, 54 applications would be impressive, but for VFW Post 6614 in Waterloo, “only” receiving 54 submissions for their annual Patriot’s Pen essay contest was a “bad year.”
The contest challenges students in 6th through 8th grades to submit a 300-400 word essay, for which the topic changes yearly. This year, students were asked “How Am I Inspired By America?”
This year’s high school contest, Voices of Democracy, asked students “What Are The Greatest Attributes Of Our Democracy?”
With so many entries, it can be hard to narrow down to a top three in each category.
“You get a wide range of topics, it goes everywhere,” VFW member Scott Relitz said. “We had one person talk about being in a football club and he tied everything together.”
An awards ceremony was held at the VFW Post in Waterloo on Monday, March 5. The first-place winners were not told ahead of time they’d have to read their winning essays to the attendees.
“And a lot of students will say, well, I don’t have it,” Relitz said. “That’s why I bring it.”
He held up printed copies of the two winning essays, to the laughter of the attendees.
This year’s Patriot’s Pen first place winner, sixth-grader Fanta Magassouba, said she participated because she recognizes opportunities the U.S. has provided her.
“I knew that it was important because I wasn’t born here, and we came to this country because we knew that it had multiple opportunities,” she said. “So I described in my essay all of those things that you’re able to do here. Back home, we don’t have that much freedom and it just makes me realize how much this country gives to us every day.”
Magassouba aspires to attend Harvard and wants to become a therapist.
Voice of Democracy winner Ruth Brosig was inspired by the Quilts of Valor program.
“The fact that these are handmade, no quilt is the same — it’s super cool that it’s really made from the heart, and it kind of comforts the soldiers,” she said.
She dedicated her essay to her father.
“My dad served for 27 years, and he’s been a big inspiration for me, and I just was like, you know, we’ve got to try something and give back to him with a little speech,” she said.
Brosig first learned about the contest from her friend and former first-place winner, Phoebe Seep, and went on to beat her friend — a twist of fate Relitz poked fun at during the awards ceremony.
A senior, Brosig is planning to major in animal science at University of Wisconsin-River Falls.
“It takes a community like this that helps us create kids like this that are going to keep this country going the way it should be,” her dad Max Brosig said during the awards ceremony.
Voice of Democracy winners
1st Place: Ruth Brosig
2nd Place: Phoebe Seep
3rd Place: Lillia Llontop
Patriot Pen winners
1st Place: Fanta Magassouba
2nd Place: Teresa Gamon
3rd Place: Cora Snyder
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