News : VFW Auxiliary Post #2440 Presents Essay Awards to 3rd & 4th Graders

Joten Lorenzen placed 1st in the 3rd Grade, 1st in District 2 and 6th at the State level of competition,

The VFW Auxiliary Post #2440, a combination of Benton and Buchanan County Posts, presented awards to area students. The essay awards were presented last week at Tilford Elementary and Shellsburg winners this week. The top 15 essay contest writers were presented with a medal and a laminated copy of their essay to take home with them.

The Vinton-Shellsburg District had a total of 336 essay entries in grades 3-5. The theme for the essays this year was, "I Love America Because."

Presenting the awards were Dale and Jeanette Henry, Pam Collison, Independence Auxiliary President and Nila Turner, Secretary. Not pictured were Donna Roepke who provided the medals for the winners.

The VFW also extended a thank you to all of the teachers who assisted with the project in each of their classes.

Pictures can be seen here

Winners are as follows:

In the 3rd Grade, Joten Lorenzen placed 1st out of all of the 125 entries in his grade. He went on to place 1st in the District 2 competition, and 6th place at the State level.

2nd Place

Alexander Brownlie

3rd Place

Allannah Adams

4th Place

Kendyl Hatfield

5th Place

Connor Schmidt

6th Place

Miley Decker

7th Place

Roxton Tharp

8th Place

Bridget Dee

9th Place

Quinn Davidson

10th Place

Knox Speckner

11th Place

Madison McLaughlin

12th Place

Nora Close

13th Place

Brody Langer

14th Place

Charles McCoy

15th Place

Owen Clayton

4th Graders

Erdi Cole placed 1st in the class of 4th graders and 3rd in the State. He competed against 117 other Vinton-Shellsburg entries.

2nd Place

Arthur LaGrange

3rd Place

Mason Schirm

4th Place

Olivia Bowen

5th Place

Madison Schirm

6th Place

Manny Luis

7th Place

Zachary Kuhn

8th Place

Hollis Fish

9th Place

Laura Peterson

10th Place

Sawyer Jernigan

11th Place

Adelida Pierson

12th Place

Ayda Thomas

13th Place

Joise Armstrong

14th Place

Olsi Celo

15th Place

Arnes Tafa

5th Graders

1st Place, Carver Fisher who competed against 92 other students in the 5th Grade. The theme for the 5th grade was, "I am proud to be an American because."

2nd Place

Avia Birker 

3rd Place

Emma Song

4th Place

Dax Marter

5th Place

Marlee Brown

6th Place

Hunter Allen Shurtz

7th Place 

Payzlee Steele

8th Place

Gregory Svoboda

9th Place

Natalie Gardemann

10th Place

Jaina Thacker

11th Place

Quaid Johnson

12th Place

Promise Smith

13th Place

Clay Koeppen

14th Place

Kinnick Fairbanks

15th Place

Jaxton Decker