Jeremy Ratliff
Reporter
During it’s annual banquet last Saturday, VFW Post 1638 announced the finalists for the 2018-19 Patriots Pen and Voice of Democracy (VOD) contests. This year’s Patriot’s Pen theme was “What the American Flag means to me” while this year’s VOD theme was “Why my vote matters.”
Over 160 contest submissions were received this year, and were evaluated by a local panel of judges consisting of MAPS Superintendent Dr. John Sample, MAPS Guidance Counselor Lora Clabots-Forster, Post 1638 VFW member Polly LaMontagne, St. John’s Lutheran School teacher Ruthanne Breitwisch and Trinity Lutheran School teacher Rebekah McClellan.
Saturday evening, the top 15 Patriot’s Pen essay finalists were recognized, as were the top 6 VOD winners. The top three winners from each contest, read their respective essays aloud to those in attendance.
In addition, VFW Post 1638 Auxiliary presented a check in the amount of $2,000 to the Northwoods Veteran’s Post. The funds were raised via “Operation Thank You,” a cooperative effort with local businesses during which cards were made available for customers to write the name of a particular veteran and the cards were then put on display in participating businesses.
Front Row: Post 1638 Auxiliary President Alicia Weix, Leah Crockford (9th Place Finalist); Emerson Iwen (11th Place Finalist); Lauren Cohrs (10th Place Finalist); Olivia Dzwonkowski (8th Place Finalist) and Ashlyn Shorey (6th Place Finalist)
Patriots Pen Essay finalists are as follows:
1st Place- Chloe Malinowski 7th Grade Trinity Lutheran School
2nd Place- Katelyn Schult 7th Grade Prairie River Middle School
3rd Place- Faith Hagemeister Home School
4th Place- Chloe McRae 7th Grade Prairie River Middle School
5th Place- Kayli Wirtala 7th Grade Prairie River Middle School
6th Place- Ashlyn Shorey 7th Grade Prairie River Middle School
7th Place- Kaitlyn Krug 8th Grade Bridges Virtual Academy
8th Place- Olivia Dzwonkowski 7th Grade Trinity Lutheran School
9th Place- Leah Crockford 7th Grade Prairie River Middle School
10th Place- Lauren Cohrs 8th Grade St. Francis Xavier Catholic School
11th Place- Emerson Iwen 7th Grade Prairie River Middle School
12th Place- Sophie Wendorf 7th Grade Trinity Lutheran School
13th Place- Avery Hoff 7th Grade Trinity Lutheran School
14th Place- Mia Smith 6th Grade St. John’s Lutheran School
15th Place- Breannon Herdt 8th Grade St. John’s Lutheran School
Front Row: Kamille Ament, Sophia Schroeder, Savannah Guenther, Jackson Rammer, Emily Weix and Dayton Frederick
Voice of Democracy finalists are as follows:
Merrill High School Students-
1) Kamille Ament- Junior
2) Dayton Frederick- Senior
3) Sophia Schroeder- Junior
4) Emily Weix- Senior
5) Jackson Rammer- Junior
6) Savannah Guenther- Junior
