VanDeBerg writes winning Americanism essay

A Brandon Valley Intermediate School fifth-grader’s thoughts on promoting Americanism in her school and community won top honors in a local contest.

Sarah VanDeBerg’s essay, “What can I personally do to promote Americanism in my school or community?,” was selected as the winner by the Brandon American Legion Auxiliary. VanDeBerg’s essay now moves on to the national competition in April 2018. She is the daughter of Paul and Tammy VanDeBerg, of Brandon.

Emma Kramer took second place in the 2018 Americanism Essay Contest and Zariah Sittig was third.

VanDeBerg’s winning essay is printed below:

“What can I do personally to promote Americanism in my school or community?”

I think that promoting Americanism in my school and community is important. I think that it is important because I think that our freedom, choice of religion, and the way we are treated is important. These are some ways that I like to promote Americanism.

I like to help our community by picking up garbage on our street, or painting garbage cans and donating them to local parks. At school, I try to treat everyone equally and kindly. I also believe that each person is unique and I respect them for that.

One of the biggest benefits America is known for is our freedom that our veterans fought for. I am thankful that people set aside days like Veterans Day, Memorial Day and Labor Day so that we can stop and really think about what they did for us. I have promoted our freedom by saying speeches at my school, and thanking our veterans. It helps me personally because my grandpa had served in the Vietnam War. That is how I personally promote America’s freedoms.

One of the things I enjoy about Americanism is that we get to choose our religion. I promote that by respecting people’s choices, and not taking our choice of religion for granted. Our country lets us choose our own way to do things a lot of the time, and that is why our country is so great We have many awesome and amazing reasons why America is so great. That is why I think it is important to promote Americanism, and that is how I promote Americanism in my school and community.