VFW offers student scholarships

Teachers, parents and students: Do you know about the scholarship programs offered by the Veterans of Foreign Wars?

Patriot’s Pen is an essay competition for sixth- to eighth-grade students. This year the theme to write about is, “Why I Honor the American Flag.” The first-place winner at the national level will receive a $5,000.00 scholarship. The essay is required to be 300 to 400 words. There should be no way to identify the essay’s author within the document.

Voice of Democracy is a speech competition for ninth- to 12th-grade students. This year’s theme is, “Why My Vote Matters.” The first-place winner at the national level can receive up to a $30,000 scholarship. This speech must be three to five minutes in length recorded on a CD or flash drive. There should be no way to identify the speech author within the speech.

Did you know that we also want to thank the amazing teachers that are out there taking care of your kiddos and we’d like you to help us by turning in a nomination for the Smart/Maher VFW National Citizenship Education Teacher Awards. This nomination application requires an application and nomination statement of 350 words or less. Teachers can be nominated for the Kindergarten to 5th grade level, 6th to 8th grade level and the 9-12th grade level. Nominations can be made by fellow teachers, supervisors or other interested individuals.

You can go to your local VFW Post, on Round Butte Road in Ronan (9 a.m.-noon) or ask at your school to obtain applications for all of these programs. Home school students are also eligible. Please be sure to read all of the rules in the application and follow them. The deadline to your local VFW Post is Oct. 31, 2018. There are awards offered at post, district and state levels as well as the national level to be earned by your participation in these programs. So get out there and earn a scholarship or honor your favorite teacher today!

For more information or to obtain an application for one of the programs, contact Ron Merwin at 546-1741, Dave Bennett at 274-4548 or Dale Morgan at 269-0122.

— Ron Merwin

VFW Post 5652, Ronan