By: Meghan J.
AOA Students Win VFWAward
Each year the VFW( Veterans of Foreign Wars) has a writing scholarship competition. This year two of our own AOA students participated and won part of the competition!
Charity H. won first place for her state, Nevada. She also moved onto Washington D. C. for nationals where she won 12th place overall and received a scholarship. We got to ask her some questions about her experience:
Q. How did you feel t o have t he opport unit y t o be a part of t his cont est? And w hat w as it like w hen you found out t hat you? d w on t he cont est?
I felt so honored to be a part of the VFW: Voice of Democracy contest. I had heard nothing about it before this year. All of the sudden, here I am at the award winners banquet in Nevada waiting to see if I would win state for the competition. Honestly, I didn ' t know what to expect, only that I might be a runner-up and get a small check to go towards my college fund. When all the other contestants were named " runner-ups;"
however, a small light of hope 10
By: Meghan J.
came into my mind as in realized, " I might be going to Washington this year."
Q. How did you find out about t his cont est? And w hy w ere you int erest ed in t his cont est?
My mother actually found it online while looking for writing related scholarship opportunities. At first, I procrastinated. But then, I got this rush of inspiration, and I decided to sit down and do it. I knew that the contest was for scholarship, but my main motivation was my paper being devoted to God.
Q. What w ere som e of t he m ain rules and boundaries you had t o follow?
There weren ' t too many regulations. The VFW has a different essay theme every year. This year, the theme was, " American History: Our Hope for the Future." This was to be the title of our essay. Not only were we instructed to write an essay, but we were also instructed to present our essay orally! Along with the essay hard copy, we were instructed to record ourselves speaking
Q & A
what we wrote and send in a flash drive with the recording attached. The recording could be only 5 minutes long.
Q. What w as t he m ost im port ant part in t his experience for you? Why?
Probably the most important part of this experience for me was sitting next to a Marine during the winners? banquet. It was such an honor to hear what he had to say, and I really felt like I got a glimpse of how the retired military feel once their service has come to an end.
Q. What advice or t ips you w ould give st udent s looking for w rit ing cont est opport unit ies?
My only piece of advice would be to try. If you ' re good at writing, research different scholarships and try them! Don ' t be afraid to step up and use the talents God has given you. If you don ' t win, at least you can say, " I tried." I had no idea that I would even have a chance at this scholarship, but God made away because I stepped out and tried. Get out there and show the world what you ' ve got.