Campbell wins Wyoming Patriot's Pen competition

Second year in a row Encampment sends an entrant to National contest

Each year, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) invites students between grade 6 and grade 8 to take part in the Patriot's Pen youth essay contest. The contest encourages the entrants to examine their experiences in modern America's society and history as they express their views on a theme chosen by the VFW Commander-in-Chief. This year, VFW Post 6125 in Encampment had the honor of sponsoring a state winner for the second year in a row.

This year, Patriot's Pen entrants had to write a 300-400 word essay based on the theme "America's Gift to My Generation."

Jaden Campbell, daughter of Jason and D'Ron Campbell, was inspired to write about freedom as America's gift to her generation.

"I was thinking about all the freedoms that we enjoy in this country," Campbell said.

Campbell is the second student from the Valley to be sponsored by Post 6125 and win on the state level before taking part in the national competition. For the 2016/2017 Patriot's Pen contest Dalton Peterson, a student at Encampment K-12 School, also won on the state level before competing nationally. While Campbell participates in Saratoga Middle/High School sports, she is a student of Wyoming Virtual Academy.

According to the "Youth Scholarships" section of the VFW website, over 130,000 students take part in Patriot's Pen every year. The national first-place winner will win $5,000 and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C. The first-place winner from each state will compete for national awards that total over $50,000 and each first-place state winner will receive a minimum of $500 at the national level.

"I was really excited," Campbell said about winning state, "I didn't think my essay was that good."

Having proven to herself that she has what it takes to win on the state level, Campbell is hopeful that she will rank well on the national level.

Campbell also encourages anyone who is on the fence about taking part in future Patriot's Pen contests to join in. She plans on taking part in the other essay contest the VFW holds annually: Voice of Democracy, an audio-essay contest that sees nearly 40,000 entrants every year.

 

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