TORRINGTON – Guernsey-Sunrise students Caleb Christensen and Isaac Miller both won first-place awards for their essays at the district 5 Veterans of Foreign Wars auxiliary meeting held at the Torrington VFW post 2918.

Winners of the Patriot’s Pen and Voice of Democracy contests were announced last November at Guernsey-Sunrise Schools. Both programs are sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars across the nation.

Presenting this year’s local awards at the November assembly were Guernsey Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4471 members Program chairperson Don Mack, Post Commander Steve Keigley, Post Senior Vice-Commander Jerry Wood, and Post chaplain Ron Hughes.   

The Patriots Pen competition is open to students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades.  Entrants write a 300–400-word essay on a specific topic chosen by the Veterans of Foreign Wars.  This year’s theme was “My Pledge to Our Veteran.”  

Essays are judged on knowledge of the theme, theme development and clarity of ideas.

Local poor winners move on the compete at the district, state and national level and compete for monetary prizes.  Monetary awards begin at the state level with winners sharing in the overall prize pool of $55,000 National qualifiers receive a $500 prize and this year’s national winner is awarded $5,000.

This year’s Patriot’s Pen winners for Guernsey Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 44471 include:

6th grade:

First:  Arianna Thompson

Second:  Carlee McGuire

Third:  Devlin Larson

Teachers:  Tesha Frederick, Jillian Dietchman, Amy Schmick

7th grade:

First:  Isaac Miller

Second:  Allen Valtierra-Gray

Third:  Mariella Alfelor

Teacher:  Amy Hollon

8th grade:

First:  Jayden Wagner-Gross

Second:  Samuel Baker

Third:  Jackson Otero

Teacher:  Amy Hollon

Arianna Thompson and Isaac Miller, this year’s top two winners overall will move on to the district 5 competition.

The Voice of Democracy competition is open to high school students in grades 9-12.  Each entrant must submit a recorded 3–five-minute audio essay on a theme chosen by the Veterans of Foreign Wars.  This year’s theme was “Why is the Veteran Important?” Judging criteria includes originality, content and delivery.  

Prizes and scholarships are awarded at the Post, District, State and National levels.  State winners receive an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C. to tour the city, be honored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars and its Auxiliary and receive their portion of $171,000 in national awards.  This year’s top scholarship winner receives $35,000.