GETTYSBURG, Pa. (EYT) – The Department of Pennsylvania Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States recently celebrated the patriotism of Pennsylvania’s high school students during the organization’s annual Voice of Democracy banquet in Gettysburg.
(Photo: Twenty-four District winners in the PA VFW Voice of Democracy Essay Contest are pictured along with State VFW and Auxiliary leadership.)
Landisburg resident Hanna Houtz won the VFW patriotic essay contest. A senior at West Perry High School, Houtz represented Post 7463 in New Bloomfield and the VFW District 17 region comprising of nine counties. She will represent the Pennsylvania VFW Department at the National VFW VoD Contest where she could receive a $30,000 scholarship by winning the National contest.
Houtz will travel to Washington, D.C. for numerous activities with other Department student winners. As a Department winner she has.
Other top five winners include: second place — Hunter Stecko of North Huntingdon, a junior at Norwin High School representing District 27 and Post 781; third place — Marisa L. Sankey of Morton, a home school senior, representing District 7 and Post 928; fourth place — Matthew J. Smith of Covington Township, a junior at North Pocono High School representing District 10 and Post 6082; and fifth place — Elise R. Aaron of Strattanville, a home school senior representing District 19 and Post 2145.
The VOD program allows high school students across the state—including home school students—to compete in a speechwriting contest based on a patriotic theme. The Department of PA VFW also sponsors the Patriot’s Pen essay contest for students in junior high school. For more information about these contests visit www.vfw.org or call your local VFW post to see if they are a program participant.
Consisting of 90,000 members in 400 local posts, Department of Pennsylvania is the largest state department of the Veterans of Foreign Wars organization. VFW posts and auxiliaries provide $2.5 million in college scholarships to high school students every year. In Pennsylvania, VFW organizations donate more than $13 million and volunteer more than $15 million hours’ worth of community service annually.
