Carrollton Middle School 8th grader, Ryan Barnett, took home third place in the statewide Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Patriot’s Pen essay contest in ceremonies held January 13 in Columbus at the VFW Department of Ohio’s mid-winter conference. Ryan was the VFW District 6 first place winner and was selected as a finalist among three other students from around Ohio for the state prize. Ryan’s essay was sponsored locally by Fighting McCook VFW Post 3301, who initially judged his writing and selected it for judging at the district level, which included VFW posts from Stark and surrounding counties. As a first-place finisher at the district level, Ryan’s essay was then judged at the state level.
The 2023/2024 essay topic was “How Are You Inspired by America?” The top three finishers and their families were invited to attend the mid-winter conference, read their essays to the convention of veterans, and a winner chosen. The trio of Patriot’s Pen finalist were honored at a banquet along with twelve other high school finalists in attendance that were the VFW’s Voice of Democracy essay contest. The Voice of Democracy essay contest is the competition for high school students.
The essay was an optional writing assignment in Ryan’s language arts class, which was then sent to the local VFW post for judging. This was Ryan’s third year of participating in the contest. He finished outside the top three in the state competition in his sixth-grade year and his seventh-grade essay qualified for district judging but was not selected as a state finalist.
The Patriot’s Pen is the VFW’s middle school youth essay contest that “encourages young minds to examine America’s history, along with their own experiences in modern American society, by drafting a 300-to 400-word essay, expressing their views based on a patriotic theme chosen by the [national] VFW Commander-in-Chief,” according to the VFW’s website. Scholarships and monetary prizes are awarded.
Ryan is the son of Steve and Jennifer Barnett of Carrollton. Ryan, an honor roll student, also plays football and basketball at Carrollton Middle School and plays travel baseball.