Michelle Soukup was presented a plaque for her first place finish in the State VOD Contest. Pictured left to right, are State Auxiliary President Donita Mullinix, Michelle and State Department Commander, Cody Mangold.

Voice of Democracy

Awards Presented

The District 7 VFW Spring Meeting was hosted by Post 7319 and Auxiliary on Sunday, April 18, 2021. Special guests were the District 7 Voice of Democracy winners who were present to read their winning essays.

Jerry Seiner, District Voice of Democracy and Patriots Pen Chairman, gave a brief explanation of the VOD contest, explaining that the participating students are required to write a 3-5 minute essay which they then record. The essays are judged at the local post which can submit one essay to the District competition for each 15 entries.

This year 192 essays were written by students in District 7. Out of those, 15 essays advanced to the District for judging. Six of the twelve posts in District 7 submitted essays.

The District winners for the 2020-2021 contest were; first place, Michelle Soukup, Post 7319, Wagner; second place, Addison Haase, Post 2966, Scotland; third place, Jaden Peters, Post 7319, Wagner.

Each student read their essay which was followed by a round of applause. Monetary awards were presented to each of the students with first place receiving $100, second place $75, and third place, $25.

The District winner, Michelle Soukup, competed at the state level against the four other district winners where she received first place. As the first place winner at the state level, her essay moved forward to the National Contest where she placed 20th out of 52 essays. Her achievement earned her the $2,000 Francis J. Tallman Memorial Scholarship & Robert A. Stock Memorial Scholarship (combined). Michelle also received a $500 award from the State Department along with a plaque and personalized pen, which were presented to her at the meeting by Department Commander Cody Mangold and State Auxiliary President Donita Mulinix.