Veteran Essay Winners have been announced!

With pleasure, I'd like to announce the three essay winners picked by our local VFW post.

1st place: Dylan
2nd place: Lola
3rd place: Leah

3rd place winner: Leah

2nd place winner: Lola

1st place winner: Dylan

I am so proud of these 7th graders for working so hard. The 1st place and 3rd place winning essays are below:

1st place winner: 

“Freedom is the Glue that Holds Us Together”

Freedom is the willpower to determine and fight for what you think is right. Freedom is the will of people to do what they wish and not be hindered by other people and themselves. Freedom is the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without restraint. Freedom is having the ability to fight for ourselves and take action when you see someone in trouble. In other words, freedom is expressed in many different ways by many different people, too many in fact to write on a piece of paper.

Freedom is what the founding fathers, all fifty-six of them, wanted when they signed The Declaration of Independence on August 2nd, 1776. They may not have expected that freedom would go as far as it did, from Alexander Graham Bell and the invention of the telephone, to Albert Einstein and his theory of relativity. Although these two breakthroughs in science have nothing in common, both would not be possible without the freedom to think and speak freely. The ability to express creativity has has lead to more advanced technology in our present time and day. Freedom may not be a world wide law but it has bound this country together and formed one of the most free willed countries on this blue marble we call Earth.

Freedom of speech allows me to state my opinion and not be punished for it because it allows me to speak without repent. My parents are a rare kind of parents, because they include my brother and I in most conversations about what is going on and what is happening. They let us have an opinion and a voice. This can let my brother and I have an opinion that is acknowledged and can affect the way events unfold in our lives. At school my teacher lets me have a voice every time I raise my hand and get called upon. This is a very good way to have a conversation and also lets me voice my self-opinionated beliefs on the subject. I have the freedom of speech to thank, for letting us have a say in our own lives.

Freedom has and still is, affecting many people on this blue spherical rock. Freedom is one of the best concepts proposed to the world and I hope it stays on that throne for many more years.


3rd place winner:

What Freedom Means to Me

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Our life begins to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”When people are quiet and not talk about things that really matter, it is a concerning way of life. It could lead to more problems, when no one is talking about what is really going on. He is one of the greatest people who fought for Civil Rights for all people. It took great courage for him to fight for what he knows is right. He followed his heart, and neglected the negative comments of other people who were opposing his decisions about freedom.

Martin Luther King Jr. makes me wonder how it affects me and my lifestyle. I have freedom to talk and express myself during school sessions respectfully and appropriately. It means speaking for what I believe is right. It means waking up in the morning relaxed ready to start my day because I can decide for myself what to think and decide what I want to do. Without that kind of freedom I would be having a lot anxiety or distress because freedom is not in my favor, and expressing or saying anything to express myself isn’t an option.

Martin Luther King Jr. put his fists down and fought back with peaceful marches and his words. He was sent to jail over twenty times because of speaking publicly about Civil rights for every citizen. He lost his own house in a bombing and his house was left in ashes. He never gave up and kept on talking about his opinion and expressing himself in words. He was abundant in courage and bravery even though he had so many threats sent to him by other people. He used his freedom of speech to educate the world with what was concerning him and other Americans in the United States.

Without Martin Luther King Jr., life would be different. If it was not for his courage to freely speak about civil rights, then I don’t think I would be the same person as I am today. I would be segregated by other people. I would feel life I had a wasted life because, I would not be speaking up for myself.