On Wednesday, December 18, 14 high school students and a handful of middle schoolers were seated in the auditorium to receive awards for the Voice of Democracy and Patriot’s Pen program. They were presented by the organizers of the Cannon Falls program: John Hobert and Bob Durdahl. The local high school winners this year were senior Grace Parks placing first, freshman Lexie Rouse in second, and sophomore Riley Iverson winning third place.
The Voice of Democracy (VOD) is a youth scholarship opportunity where students can write essays based on the theme of the year. The 2024-2025 theme was “Is America today our forefathers’ vision?” According to the Veterans of Foreign Wars website, 25,000 high school students enter to win a share of over 1 million dollars in scholarships every year. The program was established in 1947, and the first place winner in the nation is awarded a $35,000 scholarship applied to their college, university, or technical school. This year, Cannon Falls High School students were given the chance to submit their speeches and essays to the VFW; every student who sent one in was given a $25 check for sending in their work. Sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students also got to turn in essays for the Patriot’s Pen program, the Voice of Democracy’s middle school counterpart.
Grace Parks is a senior at Cannon Falls High School, and was the first place local winner and the third place district winner for the Voice of Democracy contest. “It was pretty shocking,” Parks expressed. “I didn’t expect to win anything at all, let alone first place.” Heather Loeschke, a high school World History, AP U.S. Government and AP U.S. History teacher at CFHS pushed several of her students to submit an entry for the VOD competition; Parks was one of those students. “If Mrs. Loeschke hadn’t pushed my class to submit something I probably wouldn’t have participated at all,” Parks explained. “By participating, I was able to share my opinion on the topic and how I feel about our political climate right now which makes me happy.” She went on to state how she would encourage other high school students to engage in the opportunity. “The Voice of Democracy and Patriot Pen programs are both free to participate in and no matter what everyone wins some cash.”
Lexie Marking, a freshman at CFHS, also participated in the VOD and placed second locally. She expressed her hesitation in presenting an entry. “At first, I was debating on submitting it, but I’m glad that I did,” she stated. Marking is a student in Loeschke’s ninth grade World History class, and was also encouraged to take part in the activity. “I’m glad that Mrs. Loeschke gave me this opportunity to submit my work,” she explained. Marking continued to say that she intends on participating in the event her sophomore year. She also gave “a special thank you to Mrs. Loeschke for letting this be an opportunity.”
While the Voice of Democracy is for high school students only, sixth through eighth graders have the opportunity to take part in the Patriots Pen program. The VFW Department of Arkansas states “Patriot’s Pen gives 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students the opportunity to express their opinion on a patriotic theme and improve their writing skills, while they compete for awards and prizes.” The 2024-2025 theme for middle school writers is “My Voice in America’s Democracy?” Anne Davisson and Renae Otto are both middle school Language Arts teachers, and both played the role of giving their students the resources and chance to submit their essays to the Patriot’s Pen contest. Davisson stated that she gives her students the time to work on the essay “to support our local veterans.” She went on to say that “John Hobart speaks to the staff each fall, requesting our support in the VFW’s program. It is a simple choice to offer up one class period to support students as they begin to shape their ideas into an essay.” The three local middle school winners were sixth grader Amanda McDonald, sixth grader Kyle Hernke, and eighth grader Lainey Lichty, with first, second and third place respectively.
Both the Voice of Democracy and Patriot’s Pen scholarship programs give students across the nation the chance to set forth their opinions and feelings about the United States today. Although there is a cash incentive to put in the work and submit an essay, many of these students do this not for the money, but to take the opportunity to voice their thoughts to potentially the nation.
