Valley City, ND – AMVETS POST 3 is well-represented at state-level awards! Chloe Liebersbach (6th grader at St. Catherine School), Ellie Altringer (7th grader at VCHS), Sadie Olson (8th grader at VCHS), and Jacob Leick (Junior at VCHS) were selected as winners in their grade of the State Americanism Essay Contest. They attended an awards ceremony on Saturday, May 20th at the Steele Vet’s Club in Steele, ND. Valley City also had many students come in as runners-up, not only in the poster contest (for grades 2-5) but also in the essay contest (for grades 6-12). Jake Schnidt (2nd grader at Jefferson Elementary) came in 3rd place, Nathan Strom (4th grader at Washington Elementary) came in 3rd place, Camden Larson (5th grader at Washington Elementary) came in 2nd place, Marisa Hoffarth (8th grader at VCHS) came in 2nd place, and Abby Shanenko (Sophomore at VCHS) came in 2nd place at the state level.

Participants were to submit a poster or an essay (depending on grade level) addressing the annual theme. The theme this year was “What does freedom look like?” The criteria for judging the posters and essays were originality, adherence to theme, and literary composition.