During the Veterans Day program at Malad Elementary School on Thursday, November 9, the students selected as the winners of the Veterans Day essay contest will present their essays to the audience of veterans, students, family, and community members.  The contest is sponsored every year by the American Legion Post 65, and was judged this year by Legion Commander Garry White, Geneal White, Mary Alice Telford, and April Allen.  The finalists were chosen from all the submitted entries by a panel of retired teachers.  

Veterans Day is one of the most important school assemblies of the year for MES, which has a long and proud history of instilling a respect and appreciation for all veterans, but especially those from Oneida County.  During last week’s presentations, many essays were presented for the judges’ consideration.  After deliberating, the judges announced that they had selected McCall Clark the winner of the $75 first place award, Bryten Bastian as the $50 second place winner, Cassidy Schrenk as the $25 third place winner, and Alyssa Seamons as the Honorable Mention.

All of the finalists will receive gift certificates to a local restaurant.

The winning essays are presented in full on this page to honor both the winners of the contest and the cause for which they were written.  

McCall Clark—1st Place

“How do we honor Veterans?”

You should honor veterans whenever you get the chance. There are so many ways that we can honor veterans, so we should at least try to because of everything they’ve done for us. I think that they are really great people, so it is really important that we can honor, respect, and appreciate them. Now here are some ways that you can honor veterans.

We can honor veterans by telling them thank you if you see one. Ask them which branch they served and how it was serving our country. Was it sad, hard, or even frustrating? You can tell they served if they have a cap that says something that has to do with the war, like Vietnam or veteran.  You could ask them if any of their friends or family were in the army, if so you could ask them how their friends and family handled it. Only if they’re comfortable with sharing though.  

Show respect to the veterans by sending them cards and telling them thank you in your card. Maybe you could give them gifts like make food for them or even just smile at them. Say hello and ask how their day has been. You can donate money for them too. 

While we do our veterans program that's coming up, we can show honor and respect by singing all of our songs as best as we can. Also by memorizing our parts if we have one and just doing our best. If you hear about a veterans program you can go and see the veterans program. That can also be a way to honor, respect, and appreciate veterans.

Also when we say the pledge of allegiance we can say it proudly, loudly but not yelling, and strongly because of everything we have accomplished because of the veterans. Think about everything they’ve done for us like knowing they might never come home, but they still fight for our country. Pay attention to the flag while we’re saying the pledge of allegiance instead of looking at things that are all around you. Look at the flag standing tall and proud until you’re all done. 

When you go into town you can go see the war memorial to visit and look at all of the people who died for us. Think to yourself how grateful you are for them. If you really think about it, there are millions of people who died for us. But even though they’re dead you can still honor them, and this is how you can. Just stop at the war memorial at some point and take a look. I’ve been there before and it really makes you think about things. It also made me feel great to know that I was honoring the veterans. 

Now I hope this showed you some ways that you can honor veterans. It would be so great if you honored veterans because we’re giving them appreciation when we do it. If we don’t show them appreciation then they could feel like you don't care that they went into war and fought for you. So please honor them and show them appreciation, it would probably make them feel awesome!

Bryten Bastian—2nd place

“The Reasons We Need to Honor Our True Heroes”

Veterans are all over the world. There are many in each branch of the military. Many gave their lives for our country. And here I now state,”All gave some, but some gave all.” This gives a clear picture of how much we need to respect and honor our Veterans.

My great grandpa Theron was a Veteran. Even if he didn’t go on the battlefield and fight, he still served in the U.S Air Force. He was an engineer and repaired planes. He knew his work would probably get blown up or damaged, but he knew that it was helping our country. We can all be as selfless as him. To honor my grandpa Theron I’ll need to be as respectful and selfless as he was.

To honor our Veterans we need to give them respect, wherever we are. At school when you're doing the pledge of allegiance please stand straight and don’t goof off, and have your hand correctly on your heart. We need to do this because it can touch some of their hearts of how respectfully you did it. Some people don’t even know what they did for this flag.

Our Veterans gave up so many chances,to have a wonderful life or to be a parent. Veterans gave up their family’s. They did all of this for us because they cared for us, for our safety, not theirs. They were selfless, they were brave, they were loving to all of us.If you see a Veteran ask what branch they were in, and always give them your thanks, because this shows honor for their sacrifices.

We honor our Veterans because they gave us the chance to live in this free country.

Cassidy Schrenk—3rd place

“How Do We Honor Veterans?”

We must honor Veterans.There is no excuse to disrespect them after all they have done for us and our freedom.  Veterans have given up so much for us. For example, missing birthdays, weddings, graduations, sports, their kids' first steps, or words and so much more. 

Veterans' sacrifices are what allow us to live and enjoy each day as free Americans.

When I see the flag, I always stand up proud and tall. When we honor the flag we honor the Veterans that fought or are fighting for our country’s freedom. When I see the red, white, and blue banner I think of all the men and women that put their lives on the line to fight for our country and our freedoms, this shows honor for their sacrifices.

Veterans experience hard times in war. When I see a Veteran I can honor  them by visiting with them, saying thank you for your service, asking them what branch they served in, and letting them know we appreciate them.

Veterans are our heroes. By treating them like heroes, we are honoring them and their sacrifices made to serve our country.  Always respecting the flag is always respecting Veterans and all they have done.

Alyssa Seamons—Honorable mention

“How do we honor Veterans?”

Do you know what veterans are? Veterans are people who served in the military. They are the people who gave us freedom. This year I am in 5th grade. So I get to do the Veterans Program. To prepare for this we had to do boot camp. It was hard.

Veterans are amazing people. Veterans are going to be wearing a hat that has their  military branch on it. If you see one you need to honor them. You can honor them by smiling, giving gifts, donating money, and serving them. Also ask them about their services, tell them thanks, invite them to the veterans program, visit the war memorial, but most importantly take care of their health. Helping veterans is the best thing you can do. It is hard but it is amazing. Just saying thanks is enough to brighten their day.

Veterans are very important because If there were no veterans then who would fight the wars? You would be in slavery and that would not be fun. You would half to work and work. That would be hard. You wouldn’t be able to go to school. You wouldn’t be able to do anything you want to do. Thanks to veterans, you can be free.

If you were a veteran, imagine what you would leave behind, your family, your home, your town and much more. The things they would miss having a new baby, birthdays, holidays, weddings and a lot more. Wouldn't that be hard? Of course. They are giving their Lives for us to be free. You would miss them too. Every single day you would have to be ready. Every single day you are worried that you might die. Every single day you would be scared that you might lose a friend. That is hard. If you think that this is not hard then try it. I promise you it is hard. 

There are lots of wars. Some of them are: World War 1, World War 2, Creon War, Silver War, Vietnam War and way more. Those wars were big and veterans fought them for us. 

Honoring and respecting means a lot to them. It means they did the right thing. Veterans are amazing. Honoring them just makes them more amazing. So honor veterans. Veterans are awesome. We should be very grateful for them.