Black Diamond VFW honors annual essay contest winners

The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1409 sponsors the contest each year.

For the MVI

Three students from the Mon Valley were recognized at the monthly meeting of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1409 in Black Diamond on Monday for their award-winning essays.

Each year the VFW sponsors nationwide essay contests — Patriot’s Pen for middle-school students and The Voice of Democracy for high school students.

The essay contest is conducted nationwide with local post winners competing at the district level, then state and then nationwide. The nationwide winner receives a $35,000 award.

This years’ theme for both essay contests was “How Are You Showing Patriotism and Support For Our Country?”

First place at the VFW Post 1409 level for the Voice of Democracy was Charleroi Area High School junior Abigail Siwiak. Abigail is the daughter of Shellie and Anthony Siwiak.

For the Patriot’s Pen, Ringgold eighth grader Colby J. Gump took first place at the post level and third place at the district level. Colby is the son of Lisa and Rich Gump.

Ringgold sixth grader Sam DePretis took second place at the post level and is the son of Jessica Baronti.

Both Colby and Sam submitted their essays with encouragement from their Ringgold Middle School art and gifted students teacher Jessica O’Brien.

The annual essay contests are open to all students in the area.