VFW Post No. 1924 to award essay winners

The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Charles E. Swisher Post No. 1924 invites the community to honor the winners of the Voice of Democracy Essay and Patriots Pen Essay scholarships to be awarded, Thursday, Nov. 21, at the post.

“We went to Potter Junior High and they submitted 21 essays for the Patriots Pen scholarship,” Chris Ingraham, Commander of VFW Post 1924, said. “The high school, because of the JROTC program and Lt. Col. Bill Wade, we're very involved with them and they're involved with us. He basically has put the Voice of Democracy Essay into his curriculum that this essay is part of his grading. So, every JROTC kid, all 174 of them, did the Voice of Democracy essay and he went through and picked out the top 10.”

According to Ingraham, a group of VFW Post members then narrowed that list of finalists into a top three. The winner will be announced at the event at 6 p.m. at the award dinner.

“It's open to the public we notify our top three winners, we just don't tell them who they are,” Ingraham said. “We have three Patriots Pen and three Voice of Democracy students coming, none of them know who is first, second and third. They will read their essays and then we will announce who the winners are.”

The first-place winner for Patriots Pen will receive $300, second place will take home $200 and third place will get $100.

The winner of the Voice of Democracy contest will receive $500, second will get $300 and third place will take home $100.

The winner of the Voice of Democracy will have a chance to compete at the VFW district level, then possibly to state and then nationally.

“Basically, what can happen is it goes from post to district, district to state, state to national,” Ingraham said. “If you're lucky enough to win the national Voice of Democracy, that's a $30,000 college scholarship.”

Starting at $500 locally, and with additional money at each level, the winner could earn another $20,000 in scholarships when it's all said and done.

Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1924 Fallbrook is at 1175 Old Stage Road in Fallbrook. Call (760) 728-8784 for more information.

Jeff Pack can be reached by email at [email protected]