Every year, for over a decade now, I have attended the Americanism Essay Contest Awards Ceremony hosted by the Weymouth - Braintree Elks #2232 — and each year, I have walked away astounded with how these young students see our America and how they express this in their writing. This year's essay theme was “What does it mean to love your country?” and one speech in particular caught my ear.
Nora Joyce, a 7th grade singer-writer, sees her America as “millions of different notes coming together despite their differences to create one beautiful orchestration” for the future of America. Her beautiful words inspire us to work even harder to create, as she says, one harmony.
Congratulations to all students who placed and good luck to those who are moving on to the state level contest:
Grades 5 & 6
1st place: Parinya Jain
2nd place: Yu-Ning (Li) Yang
3rd place: Desmond Galusha
4th place: Carleigh Loring
Grades 7 & 8
1st place: Nora Joyce
2nd place: Seamus Egan
3rd place: Molly Hackett
4th place: Nathan Bessette