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Amber Levendoski (center) is a Voice of Democracy essay winner who represented VFW Post 10532 in Coon Creek and Chaseburg. She placed first at the district competition and eighth at state competition. Also pictured are Wisconsin State Jr. Vice Commander Michele Rathke (left) and Wisconsin VFW District 11 Commander Gerald Parchem.

Amber Levendoski12th-grader, WAHS

Local winners have been announced in the 2020 VFW Voice of Democracy Contest sponsored by Westby Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8021. The theme of this years competition was Is this the country our Founding Fathers envisioned? The contest was open to all students in grades 9 through 12 including home-schooled students.

This is a national contest, where the national winner receives a $30,000 college scholarship. There is a total of $153,000 in college scholarships awarded annually to state and national winners. Over 190 Westby High School students entered the contest.

Amber Levendoski, a 12th-grader, is the daughter of Marlin and Kitty Levendoski of Westby. She represented VFW Post 10532 in Coon Creek and Chaseburg. She placed first at the district competition and eighth at state. She won $100 at district. Amber has enlisted in the Wisconsin Air National Guard. After graduation in May, she will attend USAF training this summer and will attend the University of Wisconsin-River Falls next year.

Is this the country our Founding Fathers envisioned?

America, the beautiful and powerful, is far from the country our founding fathers envisioned. Many wonderful, life-improving inventions have been mass-produced since the countrys birth. Running water exists in most every house. Airplanes fly overhead daily, carrying civilians. The medical advancements today have raised the average life expectancy 30 years, compared to three centuries ago. Yet, beneath the wealth and success the world has associated with North America lies the modern cousins of an unjust past. Hatred and greed wove bad laws that locked away human rights. Despite the social routine of the time the amendments were written, we have given women equal rights, abolished slavery, and accepted the new tools and skills which immigrants have brought in with them. No longer are people unexpectedly drafted into the military outside of wartime. Now we live in a democracy.

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Voice of Democracy: Is this the country our Founding Fathers envisioned? by Amber Levendoski - The Westby Times