The VFW Voice of Democracy Parade of Winners was live-streamed to Facebook last week, during which National winners were announced for both the VOD and the Patriot’s Pen. VFW Commander-in-Chief Al Lipphardt and VFW Auxiliary National President Brenda Bryant presented each Voice of Democracy Department winner with their National Scholarship, starting with the $1,000 recipients and continuing up to the $35,000 first-place National scholarship, in addition to announcing the National first-place Patriot’s Pen winner.
Congratulations to each and every one of these talented students!
First-place Voice of Democracy winner Tri Vu was sponsored by New Hampshire Post 8214. The Voice of Democracy theme for 2024-2025 was “Is America Today Our Forefathers’ Vision?” and his moving speech answered this question succinctly and fairly using a combination of his personal experience as an immigrant and his knowledge of both American history and America today.
The Manchester, New Hampshire high school student moved to the United States from Vietnam with his parents and brother 12 years ago, seeking freedom, opportunity and an escape from communism. He did not know English or much about American culture, but as he wrote in his speech, “The journey we’ve taken from a country where our voices were stifled to one where we are empowered to speak, vote and participate is living proof that America still upholds the ideals set forth by its founders.”
Unfortunately, Vu was sick with the flu and therefore unable to make it to Washington D.C. to attend the event with the other student winners. His recorded speech was played for those in attendance, then he joined via videoconferencing and expressed gratitude for the award, also thanking his family for their support.
The Voice of Democracy’s second-place winner was Caleb Smith from Maryland, sponsored by VFW Post 304; he was awarded a $21,000 scholarship. Della Phillips of North Dakota, sponsored by VFW Post 1874, was named the third-place winner and awarded the $15,000 VFW scholarship.
First place Patriot’s Pen winner Evelyn Newbigging, sponsored by South Carolina Post 12136, was present and read her speech to the crowd. The middle schooler addressed the theme “My Voice in America’s Democracy” by focusing on the ways people can be informed and get involved in the democratic process before they are old enough to vote. She was awarded $5,000. The Patriot’s Pen second place winner, Laila Kamin, was sponsored by VFW Post 1741 in Washington and third place winner Canaan Ly was sponsored by VFW Post 758 in Vermont.
Click here to visit scholarship announcement page on the VFW website; they have also included links to Vu’s speech and video message, Newbigging’s essay and video of her reading it that night, scholarship contest information and a complete list of Voice of Democracy winners.