text: Patriot's Pen Essay Contest Winners thank our Founding Fathers | MLive.com
  Patriot's Pen Essay Contest Winners thank our Founding Fathers
  on December 04, 2012 at 3:22 PM, updated December 04, 2012 at 3:33 PM
  Anna Ortega 2nd place, Christopher Kelly 1st place, Lexi Biederman 3rd place
  Hindsight is 20-20 they say, or so it seems.
  But, if you could go back, and tell our country's founding fathers something you know today, what would it be?
  That was the question asked by the VFW Patriot's Pen Essay Contest. This nation-wide writing contest posed that question to 6th through 8th graders. Three St. Robert students were named essay contest winners.
  Christopher Kelly (grade 8) -- 1st place -- Christopher would tell our founding fathers about the events of today, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the current state of the economy. He would also commend them for having so much influence on the strong country we are today.
  Anna Ortega (grade 8) -- 2nd place -- Anna would thank our founding fathers for the hard work that went into forming our country. She took a trip back through time and looked in on the events that led to the writing of the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution -- the basis of the liberties we enjoy today.
  Lexi Biederman (grade 7) -- 3rd place -- Lexi's paper talked about James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington, and what they accomplished. She wondered if a mere "thank you" was enough to say to these men. Lexi would tell them how proud she was of them, and how very proud she was to be an American today.
  The VFW Patriot's Pen national writing contest has each participating school choose three essay winners. These students and their families will be invited to participate in a local VFW luncheon in their honor. In addition, the first place winner (Christopher) will have his paper sent on to the district level. Whoever wins the district level will move on to the state level, and then the winner of the state competition will go on to the national level. The overall winner will receive a trip to Washington, D.C. The top 46 winners in the country will receive savings bonds ranging from $50-$5,000.
  Congratulations to the essay contest winners, and good luck to Christopher in the district competition. Thank you to the VFW for posing the question, and thank you to 8th grade teacher Megan Huml for coordinating the students participation in this contest. And importantly -- to our country's founding fathers -- thank you for the sacrifices you have made to make our country great. We are all proud to be Americans in the country you founded.