On Wednesday, February 19, in the Winslow Township Middle School library, 19 students were recognized for their essays titled, My Voice in Democracy. 

The students were called to the library at 10am.  Building administrators such as Mr. Shropshire, and Ms. Walden attended the ceremony as well as ELA Content Area Coach, Ms. Smith, and TV Production Teacher, Mrs. Irvin.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars holds its annual Patriot’s Pen essay contest every year and the 2024-2025 theme is “My Voice in America’s Democracy” Open to 6th-8th grade students in the US, the contest encourages young people to explore patriotism through writing, with local, state, and national awards.

Students were asked  to complete a hand-written essay in their ELA classes and then submitted the essays to their local VFW for scoring. 

Local award winners then advanced to compete at the district, state and national level for additional award opportunities. 

Members of the VFW Local 303 post came to Winslow Middle School to honor these students with certificates and gift cards, and honored one very  special with an award.

Eighth grader, Christianna Martinez, was awarded first place at the local level and an impressive third place at the state level.  

“Christianna is an amazing student and she has blossomed into a beautiful writer during her time here at WTMS,” Mrs. Irvin commented. 

WTMS is incredibly proud of all of the students who participated, and an extra special congrats goes out to Christianna.