Students win ?I Love America? essay contest

The Ladies Auxiliary to Dimmitt-Vorhies VFW Post 2271 recently held an awards ceremony for the winners of its ?I Love America? essay contest for fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders in the Fairfield Community School District.

During the meeting, the six winning students read their essays aloud and were presented cash awards.

The winners were: Maya Gottshall, student of fourth-grade teacher Julie Hanshaw at Washington Elementary School; Julia Fritz, student of fifth-grade teacher Melinda Lyon at Fairfield Middle School; Samara Roemen, student of fifth-grade teacher Tari Eeling at FMS; Devyn Redmann, student of fifth-grade teacher Trisha Copeland at FMS; Lily Halley, student of sixth-grade teacher Cara Perkins at FMS; and Amanda Carminhato, student of sixth-grade teacher Ann Gookin.

The winning essays are printed below:

Maya Gottshall ­? fourth grade

I love America because it is a free country, and the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights protects that! We have the freedom of speech, the freedom of press, the freedom of assembly, the freedom of court, and especially, the freedom of religion.

One thing that I will always love about America is that we are a democracy. We can vote for our leaders, and we the people have a voice, we have some power over the country! If our president is leading us in the wrong direction, we can vote him out. We the people can also make changes!

One more thing, I will always be grateful that there are good jobs, and both healthy, delicious, and filling foods. My father has a job as a computer engineer. He loves his job very much, and he?s very good at it.

I LOVE MY LIFE IN AMERICA!

Julie Fritz ? fifth grade

I love America because it makes me feel proud and strong to live here. America is a very beautiful place! You get to see the nature around you and the animals that live there.

There are so many people that live in America and they are all different. They might not have the same interests and they might not believe in the same things but they all live in America the great, the beautiful, the strong and the brave.

The wind sent from the heavens give me the chills. The howling from the wind makes me want to sing. America some people say is just country but I think that it is a place for people to see things for people to discover things and for people to experience. Let it surprise you. Being free and alive is wonderful! That is why I love America.

Samara Roemen ? fifth grade

I love America because we are a free country. I am very grateful that I live in America. I have honor in this country. It?s astonishing how far America has come along. America has done so many things and I bet it is going to keep doing it. America is free! We have freedom of speech, religion and press. Some countries still don?t have full freedom. The flag of America I always respect and honor it. The flag is a symbol of America! I also think if we always remember all of our presidents. They helped a lot with our country. Everyone that lives in America has a privilege. I can?t express how much I love America, but I?m sure you can tell.

Devyn Redmann ? fifth grade

I love America because of our freedom. We have freedom of speech and religious rights.

In America there are so many choices like different activities, and different career choices.

We have laws trying to keep us safe and we also have brave man and women that protect us.

We have good schools and teachers.

We have good food and many choices of food, and clean water.

We welcome different races and their beliefs.

You can choose what you wear, you can express yourself.

We have a beautiful country. We are trying to keep it beautiful by recycling, planting trees, not littering, finding ways to save electricity, trying to stop global warming, and trying to stop pollution. Trying to make it a better place for years to come.

America is a great place to live.

Lily Halley ? sixth grade

I love America for many reasons. I love my country because it has freedom. America has freedom of speech and religion. America has education. I believe education is a strong and good base for the leaders of tomorrow, like me and my friends. Education helps make a great country a perfect country. There are countless things I love about my country. The land is one of the many things. It is so diverse and beautiful. There are mountains to plains, small ponds to oceans, rich farmland to deserts. Sea to shining sea. That is why I love America.

Amanda Carminhato ? sixth grade

I love America because in America we have freedom and freedom leads to peace, peace leads to kindness and kindness leaves to happiness. We also have good education, jobs and strong leaders. In our country we are not judged by our race, religion or color. We respect each other. In this country we are rewarded for our hard work. America is also proud to have strong men and women that fight everyday and risk their lives to protect others. America is the country of opportunities and dreams. America is a beautiful place. That is why I love America.