VFW chooses essay winners
On Sunday, Jan. 31, the Carpentersville Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5915 and Ladies Auxiliary awarded the Voice of Democracy Youth Essay contest winners.
The three students progressed to the district level. The winners were William Goldberg, a junior at Dundee-Crown High School in Carpentersville, Elizabeth R. Lampp, a senior at Jacobs High School in Algonquin, and Megan A. Randby, a sophomore from Dundee-Crown.
They were each awarded $200 from the local VFW. The theme for the national contest is different every year. This year's theme was: "Does America Still Have Heroes?" This contest is opened to all high school students each year.
They also awarded the Patriot's Pen essay contest winners, which had three students that progressed to district level. These three Algonquin Middle School seventh-graders were Max Grzelak, Jonathan Lee and Kathryn Novy, under of leadership of seventh-grade teachers Kristin Fries and Courtney Schirmer.
They each went away with $100 from the Post 5915 and Ladies Auxiliary.
This year's theme was "When is the Right Time to Honor Our Military Heroes?"
All information of both of these programs can be found at vfw5915.org. For the Voice of Democracy, the top prize at the national level is a $30,000 scholarship and for the Patriot's Pen, it is at least $10,000.
In addition, Post 5915 awarded two local teachers with the VFW's "National Citizenship Education Teacher Award." Gary Swick, a teacher from Dundee Crown, and Sharon Waterman, a fourth-grade teacher from Sleepy Hollow Elementary, have won the award at the state level and are on the way to the national level for further competition.
Post 5915 also gave out many donations, including: Carpentersville police department and fire departments; Carpentersville Veterans Garden; Tri-Cities Dundee Rookies, Jayne Shover Easter Seals, PADS of McHenry County, PADS of Elgin, Community Crisis Center, Hospice of Northeastern Illinois, Boys and Girls Club of Dundee Township, Little Angels, Fish Food Pantry and the NJROT Cadets of Wheeling High School.
More than $4,600 were given out in either scholarships or donations. A small donation was given to Dundee-Crown High School to help run the scholarship program.