Voice of Democracy is an annual nationwide scholarship program sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). It is an audio-essay contest for high school students in grades 9-12. The program annually provides more than $2.3 million in scholarships.
The contest is designed to foster patriotism by allowing students the opportunity to voice their opinion in a three- to five-minute essay based on an annual theme. Historically, the Voice of Democracy theme (chosen by the VFW Commander-in-Chief annually) is purposely kept broad in scope to allow the participant flexibility in interpretation, and thus, encourage originality. This year’s theme was American History: Our Hope for the Future.
Essays are judged at a local, district, state and national level. We are pleased to announce that our students did not disappoint in this year’s contest. Junior Trent Reichley received first place honors at both the local and district levels, advancing him to the state competition.
In addition to Reichley’s success, Senior Sarah Gray finished in second place locally. There was a tie for third place between Seniors Leann Brenneke and Hannah Stamm.