The Lyme-Old Lyme VFW Post 1467 has selected its local winners of the national Voice of Democracy and Patriot’s Pen essay contests. The post received 12 entries for the Voice of Democracy contest for grades 9-12 and a record 69 entries for the Patriot’s Pen contest for grades 6-8, crediting support from the faculty and administration at Region 18 schools.

Junior Eleanor Dushin was named the winner of the high school contest, with sophomore Madeleine Morgado and junior Felse Kyle named honorable mentions. Eighth-grader Simon Karpinski was named the winner of the middle school contest, with eighth-grader Kate Walsh in second place and seventh-grader Sam Lee Masanz and sixth-grader Nicholas Sokolowski named as honorable mentions.

Dushin and Karpinski will go on to the District 4 competition in December. This year’s contest themes were “Is This the Country the Founders Envisioned?” and “What is Patriotism to Me?”, respectively.

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