Imagine a way to get your teenage kids interested in
researching and critical thinking about the Constitution and the Founding
Fathers. Now imagine your younger kids
receiving a cash award for writing an essay about what they would tell the
Founding Fathers if they could travel back in time, or your older teenager
recording a winning essay about the relevancy of the Constitution. To top it all off, imagine your child receiving
that award and praise from a group of combat veterans. Now stop imagining, and read about the VFW patriotic
essay programs.
For over 60 years, the Veterans of Foreign Wars has
sponsored the Voice of Democracy for high school age kids and the Patriot’s Pen
for junior high age. Each program offers
cash prizes from local posts across the country, with progressively larger
prizes as winners rise from the post level to district and state level
competitions. Each state submits their
top entries to the national level, where the top prize is a $30,000 college
scholarship to the school of your choice.
The Patriot’s Pen contest is for kids in 6-8th
grades. They submit a written essay of
300-400 words on this year’s topic, “What I Would Tell America’s Founding
Fathers” to your local VFW post (list of MN VFW posts here). Parents can’t write the essay for their kids,
but they can help supervise to keep them on track. Imagine the conversations you could have with
your kids about the Founding Fathers.
The Voice of Democracy is for 9-12 graders, and moves beyond
a written essay to a 3-5 minute recording of the author reading their own work. The topic for VOD this year is especially
germane to the times, “Is Our Constitution Still Relevant?” Not only do kids learn about the Constitution
and how it applies to our country today, but they get practice in speaking
their thoughts out loud. Winners will
get practice in public speaking as well, as they are usually asked to speak at
patriotic events such as Veteran’s and Memorial Day ceremonies.
There is no official number, but it was estimated that last
year VFW posts across Minnesota gave over $40,000 in prizes. The top Patriot’s Pen essay from Minnesota,
written by 6th grader Chloe Schroeder from Owatonna, received a
$4,000 savings bond for her work.
For conservatives, the VFW’s patriotic essay programs are a
Win-Win-Win. Win 1) Get today’s
generation of teenagers (tomorrow’s leaders) to think critically about the
Constitution and the Founding Fathers.
Win 2) Show kids what a simple meritocracy system is; no affirmative action
or nepotism here, only the top essays win top prizes. Win 3) Introduce your kids to the veterans
who believe in liberty and freedom so strongly that they volunteered to defend
them.
