Groton — Branch 20 of the Fleet Reserve Association invites all students in seventh through twelfth grades to participate in the FRA's 2015–16 Americanism Essay Contest.

Participants are invited to submit a 350-word essay centered on this year's theme: Why I am Proud to be an American. 

This national contest, sponsored by the FRA to promote a spirit of patriotism among America's youth, offers a Grand National Prize of $5,000, with other recognition in each grade category.

Each entrant must be sponsored by an FRA member or branch.

Winners are selected at the branch level in each grade category, which are then forwarded to compete against winners from other branches in the Northeast/New England Region. 

Regional winners are then forwarded to the Association's National Americanism Committee, where first, second and third place winners are selected in each grade category. 

The grand national winner is selected from this elite group of writers and receives a $5,000 cash award.

Essays must be legibly written or typed on one side of the paper and each entry must include a cover sheet stating the entrant's name, address, telephone number, name of school (or "home schooled") and grade, the number of words in the essay, and name of the sponsoring member or branch. 

Rules for the contest as well as the cover sheet can be found on the FRA's home page at www.fra.org.  All entries must be postmarked no later than Dec. 1.

To learn more about FRA's Americanism Essay Contest, contact George Hyland, Branch 20's Americanism/Patriotism Committee Chair, at (860) 446-0731 or by email at hylandsfunhouse@aol.com.

The December Board of Directors meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Dec. 8 at the Branch Home. All members in good standing are invited to attend.

December brings Old Saint Nick to the annual Children's Christmas Party, hosted by Unit 20 on Dec. 20 at the Branch Home, 242 Thames Street. He will have gifts for members' children, grandchildren and guests up to age 10.

Children must be registered on the sign-up sheet located in Club 20 with their name, sex, age and gift suggestion ($20 maximum). In order to give Santa's Elves ample time to select and wrap the perfect gift for each child, the sign-up deadline is Dec. 10.