Four Dayton Students Honored by Veterans of Foreign Wars Writing Contests

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 22, 2018

Four Dayton Students Honored by Veterans of Foreign Wars Writing Contests

Dayton, NV - On January 11, 2018, four Dayton area students were honored by the local Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 8660 for their patriotism.  A banquet was held at the Senior Citizen’s Center with family, friends, teachers, local VFW and their spouses.

Every year, the VFW challenges students throughout the nation to present their thoughts on a patriotic theme chosen at the VFW national convention.  The high school competition is called the Voice of Democracy essay and the topic was “Our Hope for the Future."  This year’s winning speech for Post 8660 came from Dayton High School student, Samantha Lewis. Lewis received a $200 check and her speech will go on to the state competition.

The sixth to eighth graders were challenged with writing a 300-400 word essay on the topic “America’s Gift to my Generation.” This year’s first place winner for Post 8660 was from Dayton Intermediate School student, Amanda Loberg. Loberg was asked to read her essay titled The Constitution- America’s Gift to my Generation.

“This gives us hope for our future as Americans,” said Paul Eades, coordinator of the local competition for the post.

Loberg also received a $200 check and her essay will go on to the state competition.  The second place winner from Saint Teresa’s Catholic School in Carson was not able to attend. The 3rd place winner was Emily Ballesteros from Sutro Elementary School with her essay, America’s Gift to my Generation, which was talking about the medical field.  She received a $100 check.

Finally, for the very first time, a Special Academic Achievement Award was created and presented to Lucas Coyle from Sutro Elementary School.  Paul Eades read Coyle’s essay that inspired the creation of this special award.  Coyle wrote that Acceptance is America’s Gift to my Generation. He was very open that he has autism and though he was new to Sutro Elementary he has been accepted for his differences and feels that America with its acceptance for differences will allow him, through his diverse thinking ability, to reach his dreams.  He was awarded a $75 check.

"The evening was filled with patriotism and pride.  Thank you to the VFW and these inspiring young people for providing a small glimpse into our future." - Shaun Minor, 6th Grade Math and Writing Teacher at Sutro Elementary School

Nevada Appeal article available here.