McArtor places in state essay contest

Sam McArtor of Grant, a sophomore at Perkins County Schools, received ninth place last month in the Nebraska Voice of Democracy Contest sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). 

Voice of Democracy is an audio-essay contest for high school students in grades 9-12. The theme for 2017-18 entries was “American History, Our Hope for the Future.”

McArtor qualified for the state contest as the winner of the local contest sponsored by the Ogallala VFW and District 4 contest, where he received $100 and $200 scholarship awards respectively.

District 4 consists of Ogallala, Grant, Imperial, Chappell, Oshkosh, Big Springs, Stratton, Stapleton, North Platte, McCook, Maywood, Sutherland, Culbertson, Palisade, Bartley and Hershey.

The 10 district Voice of Democracy winners and top three Patriot’s Pen winners in the state, along with their families, were invited to Lincoln on Friday, Feb. 2, for a day of activities in their honor. 

After a night at the Cornhusker Marriot, the day began with breakfast and a tour of the Capitol. The group had lunch at the Governor’s Mansion and heard remarks by Lt. Gov. Mike Foley.

A Parade of Winners and awards ceremony were held Friday afternoon, where students learned their placings.

McArtor received the ninth place certificate and a $250 scholarship award.

The day concluded with a banquet. The winning Patriot’s Pen essay and Voice of Democracy speeches were read at the banquet.

Morgan Peterson of Imperial won first place in the Patriot’s Pen contest.

McArtor was accompanied by his mom, Tanya McArtor.

He said his teacher, Diana Tate, encouraged him to enter the contest and stood by him every step of the way. 

Renee Seiler helped McArtor record his speech and burn it to a CD for submission. 

The guest speaker at the banquet, National Sr. Vice Commander-in-Chief Vincent “B.J.” Lawrence spoke about how the Voice of Democracy participants are dwindling, because youth don’t want to dedicate their time to writing about patriotism and their country. So to him, all of the youth sitting on the stage were winners, no matter their placing in the contest. 

“It was such an honor that I got to go and do it, and the fact that Ms. Tate just told me one day to do it and I did dedicate a little of my time to it and it had such a big out-turn,” said McArtor.

He said he enjoyed the opportunity to see all the hard work the veterans put into the district and state competitions and how much they care about the youth who participate. 

“They cared so much that we were there.”

McArtor is already looking forward to next year’s contest, with the theme, “Why My Vote Matters.”