Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7392 and Ladies Auxiliary have completed their 2001-2002 Junior Essay Contest according to Darrell Small, junior vice commander. This year the theme was Is freedom really free. This contest is for third through eighth grade students. There were 233 entries from nine schools in the Oak Harbor and Coupeville. Every contestant received a certificate of participation and each school received awards for the three best essays. VFW awarded $2,025 in U.S. Savings Bonds to the winning essays.

The best essay from each grade level was selected and these will be forwarded to VFW District 15 for further competition. From there the winners go to the VFW Department (state) level for additional competition with the best seventh and eighth grade entries going to the national level VFW Youth Essay Contest where they compete for thousands of dollars in scholarships.

Allison Bohan of Clover Valley Elementary School submitted the best third grade essay. Jordan Lamb of Coupeville Elementary School submitted the best fourth grade essay. Matthew Harris of Broadview Elementary School submitted the best fifth grade essay. Arianna O’Dell of Oak Harbor Middle School submitted the best sixth grade essay. McKenzie Rider of North Whidbey Middle School submitted the best seventh grade essay. Stacy Kallander of Oak Harbor Christian School submitted the best eighth grade essay.

Certificates of participation were given to Alexander Botkin, Jacey Geragotelis, Kyle Gonzales, Kylie Kuzina, Troy Munoz, Patrick Royce, Peter Schoenborn, Danielle Usery . The VFW congratulates all the participants and winners and looks forward to the competition next year.