For the City Times

Local winners of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Patriot’s Pen and Voice of Democracy competitions were announced at the Plover VFW Post #10262 December meeting.

The Patriot’s Pen first-place winner was Weston Peplinski, an either grader at Pacelli Catholic Middle School in Stevens Point, for his essay, “The America I Believe In.”

Weston Peplinski, an eighth grader at Pacelli Catholic Middle School, received a first-place Patriot’s Pen Award for his essay from Plover VFW Post Commander Joe Cahill. (Contributed)

The Voice of Democracy first-place winner was Andrew Tepp, a senior at Pacelli Catholic High School in Stevens Point, for his audio-essay, “My Responsibility To America.” Tepp went on to place 1st in the VFW 7th District competition and will now advance to compete at the state level.

The first-place winners each received a contest-themed backpack, ballpoint pen, a $100 cash award and a set of VFW and VFW Auxiliary commemorative challenge coins from the Post and Auxiliary.

To promote democratic ideals and foster patriotism and good citizenship in America’s youth, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) established the Patriot’s Pen (PP) and Voice of Democracy (VOD) national competitions.

The Patriot’s Pen is a youth essay-writing competition that comprises students from grades 6 – 8. Students draft a 300-400 word essay, expressing their views based on a patriotic annual theme chosen by the VFW Commander-in-Chief. Annually, more than 120,000 students enter to win award money and prizes totaling $1.1 million, as well as an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C. for the national first place winner.

The Voice of Democracy, an audio-essay competition, provides students grades 9-12 the opportunity to express their views of democratic ideas and principles. Each year, more than 51,000 high school students from across the country enter to win a share of the $2.2 million in educational scholarships and incentive awards. The national first-place winner receives a $30,000 scholarship paid directly to the recipient’s American university, college or vocational/technical school. Other national scholarships range from $1,000- $16,000 and the first-place winner from each (State) VFW Department wins an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C.

For more information on these programs, go to:
https://www.vfw.org/community/youth-and-education/youth-scholarships