VFW Award Winning Essays

The following are 7th grade essays written by three Lucerne Valley Middle School students that were the award winners of the Veterans of Foreign Wars #5551 annual Patriot’s Pen competition. Kaden Tinder won first place and $300, Brody Geist took second place and received a check for $250, and student Emmalee Hendricks took third place and $200. To read the news article click HERE.

 

 

By Kaden Tinder

 

What traits does it take to be a good American? The traits of being a good American are endless. In my opinion, I believe the three most important traits a person can possess are patriotism, independence, and having a good work ethic. These qualities are highly essential when determining whether or not a person is a true American. I can use these qualities to be a better American myself.

 

I believe the first trait, patriotism, is the most important. The act of patriotism means showing support and love for our country. It also means standing by those who are currently and have previously fought for our freedom. I’ve tried to implement this trait more myself by researching American history, which has helped me to understand more of what our freedom has cost us.

 

The second trait is independence. Being independent means learning how to survive on your own in the real world. That doesn’t mean you are always alone, it’s ok to ask for help when needed. I have found that growing up is hard and sometimes you might need assistance, but other times, it is best to do things yourself. I try to show independence by doing tasks that need to be done before I’m asked and helping others when they need assistance.

 

The third and final quality that is essential to being a good American is having an unbeatable work ethic. This means working hard and never giving up, no matter what happens or how hard the task may be. I believe that this is important because if you aren’t a hard worker, you won’t have the independence needed to succeed in life. I struggle with this particular trait but am working to improve it. I’m dedicating more time to my schoolwork and working hard to become more efficient at my tasks.

 

Like I stated previously, there are an unlimited amount of traits that help with making someone a good American. Some qualities are harder to possess than others. I know if I have patriotism, independence, and a good work ethic I can accomplish almost anything I set my mind to. These three things will help me be the best American that I can be.

 

 

By Brody Geist
(Second Place Award)

 

I could be a good American by solving problems that citizens cause. One way we could make America a better place is by voting for a better president.  Also, another way to be a good American is to prompt  the right to bear arms because we need protection for ourselves. Also, a way we could be good Americans is by respecting cops. One way that I could solve problems that citizens cause is new leadership.

We could be good Americans by having better leadership. The reason we need better leadership is because gas prices are outrageous right now; it's way too expensive. Another way we can stop this is to vote out this president. We can vote for a new president who is actually smart. We can start a campaign like a news channel telling people what is going on in the country right now.  Another problem we are having is people are trying to take away our right to bear arms.

The right to bear arms is a big problem because people are breaking into other people’s houses and they have no way to protect themselves. A lot of people have guns and are irresponsible. They take them and they do drive-bys ect. I could be a responsible person by having guns the right way with a ccw or something that says you’re allowed to carry. I could have guns by registering them the right way by buying them from a gun store. I could buy them from a gun store instead of the blackmarket. Next, a problem we have is no respect for cops.

 

The reason this is so bad right now is because one incident has happened and now people think all cops are bad. Just because one cop was bad does not mean that all cops are bad cops they actually protect us each day just like the army and  marines. A way we could fix this is by being kind to all of the cops, and military people could give water and food to all the cops we see and just give them stuff they need while on duty. People have no respect for cops nowadays. We could change that by showing respect to them. We could also interview cops and military people to ask what they do and how they are good people. 

 

In conclusion, we need new leadership because this world can not live with a bad leader. We need our right to bear arms to protect ourselves. We need respect for all our cops and military people. We need respect in this world.

 

By Emmalee Hendricks
(Third Place Award)

 

Being a great American means being an active citizen that identifies problems and helps find solutions. One problem in America and all over the world is there are a lot of people in need of help. Another is trees are getting burned/taken down leaving less trees. There's also too much trash all over the world. We need to work together to help find solutions to these problems.

 

We need to help people that can't support themselves. 40% of people in America can't afford to support themselves. We need to help by donating things that we don't need. If we all help then many people would get stuff to help them. Another way to help them is to start a campaign to raise money and get people to donate so people can afford basic needs. People need help, but we need to think about trees too.

 

A lot of trees are burned/cut down everyday. 228 billion trees have been cut down in America over the last year. This is leaving animals with no habitats. Trees help provide oxygen, so every tree cut down decreases the amount of oxygen. We could start campaigns to help encourage people to plant more trees or raise money to give to organizations so they could plant trees. Another way is to encourage companies that cut down trees to plant 7 trees for every one tree since not many trees that are planted stay alive. All the trees getting burned down are leaving trash all over and we need to help clean it up.

 

According to Google, 90% of Americans litter,  and I’m sure there's something we can do about it. The amount of pollution in America is hurting animals and leaving people in unhealthy levels of particle pollution. We can fix this by starting fundraisers to raise money to place more trash/recycling bins everywhere. We could also start a world wide group that can be anywhere in the world so anyone can join. There's more we could do to help.

 

Being an active American is really important and would make the world a better place. Helping people in need is extremely  kind. Planting more trees is giving animals homes. Having less trash littered would help the environment. I think we should all work together to help America and if we all do our part, America can be a better and healthier place to live.