hero essay contest

Topic:   Veterans Day is celebrated on November 11. What is the significance of that date and why do you think we should honor veterans?

The Pueblo Home of Heroes Association invites students in grades 4-12 to enter an essay contest answering the above-mentioned topic.

Contest Rules 300-500 words for grades 4-5 400-700 words for grades 6-8 500-1,000 words for grades 9-12 Format: Provide 1 copy of entry with entry form stapled on top, left-hand corner. All entries must be typed.

Judging Pueblo Home of the Heroes Association Judging Committee will award first, second, and third place in each category, 4-5 grade, 6-8 grade and 9-12 grade. All participants will receive a certificate of participation.

Prizes (in each category) 1st Place $100 2nd Place $75 3rd Place $50

Awards ceremony   Winners will be honored at an awards ceremony at the Pueblo Convention Center (320 Main St. Pueblo, CO 81003).

Entry Submission Entries may be submitted to any Pueblo library location. Mail or deliver to Rawlings Library, 100 E. Abriendo Ave., Pueblo, CO 81004 Attn: Community Relations.

Please call Paulette Stuart at 544-2435 or email  [email protected]   for more information .

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My michigan hero; america and me essay contest winner.

By David Fleet on February 28, 2018 No Comment

My Michigan Hero by Amelia Sweet

I was introduced to my hero about 13 years ago. I have to say, that was probably one of the best moments of my life. My hero doesn’t wear a uniform or a cape, but she goes by the name Mom.

My mom wakes up everyday with pain radiating all over her body. She once told me that it is like the aftermath of a big and painful shot, but all over. My mom has Fibromyalgia and Chronic Lyme disease. The Fibromyalgia causes intense pain everyday and the Lyme disease makes it worse, it also makes her super tired. Lyme disease is transmitted by a tick that is infected with the Lyme bacteria. When the diseased tick bites it can sometimes destroy the immune system which in turn makes you prone to diseases like Fibromyalgia. If someone has Lyme when pregnant the child is automatically born with Lyme, so that means that I also have Lyme disease in my system. I too have to be careful to keep my immune system strong. Unfortunately, the insurance companies don’t recognize these diseases and therefore don’t cover the cost of treating them. Every eight weeks my mother gets and LDI shot (lyme disease injection) to boost her immune system. Without the LDIs she would be miserable. The abundance of vitamins given to her through IVs and LDI shots help her to feel somewhat better so she can go to work and carry out the necessary day-to-day activities.

My mom works at Hurley Hospital as an Art Therapist. That means that she works with people who have mental illness, substance abuse, people who were mentally or physically abused and people with depression. She helps them express themselves through art. At her job she works with multiple patients with different illnesses like schizophrenia. Some of the patients she works with have anger issues or may have thoughts or made attempts to hurt themselves or others.

Years ago, my mom studied for four years at Sienna Heights University in Michigan and an additional two years at Marywood University in Scranton, Pennsylvania. There she got her Masters Degree in Art Therapy. My mom loves her profession very much. While my mom was in Pennsylvania, she was working at a bookstore to help pay for her education, and it was at that bookstore she met my father. Now, my mother takes care of my grandmother who we all live with. My grandma has a severe spinal injury and needs help to do things. My mom’s hobbies and loves are making art and music, and being with animals. Family is super important to her and I know that she would do anything for them.

I can only imagine how much she is going through. With having to work with gloomy people, having Fibromyalgia, then being extremely tired on top of it all. My mom provided so much for my family and for others. I feel like she is struggling to keep her head above water sometimes and that makes me angry because she does not deserve it. She is my hero because she never gives up or gives in. She is the glue that holds my family together. She is an inspiration to so many people including myself, and I’m more than proud to call her mom.

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Michigan's 8th Graders to Spotlight Michigan Heroes in Essay Contest

Michigan Business Beat September 4, 2019 8:00 AM

FARM BUREAU INSURANCE INVITES MICHIGAN 8 th GRADE STUDENTS TO WRITE  ABOUT THEIR PERSONAL MICHIGAN HEROES Lisa Fedewa, America & Me Essay Contest Coordinator, and Advertising & Engagement Specialist for Farm Bureau Insurance, Lansing, MI, drops by the MBN studio to discuss the opening of the 51st year of an essay contest.

Eighth grade students across the state are encouraged to write about their personal Michigan hero.

In the interview Jeffrey finds out about Lisa and her connection to the contest. She goes on to explain more about the contest. From there they review the eligibility requirements and deadlines which need to be met. Is Michigan Heroes, this year’s theme, or has this been the focus topic in the past? Along with anything else the business community should know about this effort.

Listen to Lisa and Jeffrey talk more about the essay contest below! 

Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan is once again sponsoring its annual America & Me Essay Contest —celebrating its 51st year. For over 50 years, several thousand eighth graders from hundreds of Michigan schools have entered the patriotic writing contest , which encourages Michigan young people to write about their Michigan heroes, especially those individuals who have made a difference in their lives.

This year's contest, held September 3 through Nov. 15th, will again ask students to write on the topic " My Personal Michigan Hero. ”

ELIGIBILITY : Sign-up kits will be sent to schools throughout Michigan in late August. The contest is open to any eighth grade student in Michigan enrolled in a public or private school, and offers a variety of awards on the local and statewide levels.

AWARDS : The first place entry from each school will be entered into the statewide competition from which the top ten essays in the state will be chosen. Each top ten statewide winner will receive a $1,000 cash award, another $1,000 for the school they attend, and another $500 for their school if the school is sponsored by a Farm Bureau Insurance agent.

A special day will be planned to celebrate the top ten winners in May 2020. Each of the top ten winners are allowed to bring two adults and a teacher to the awards celebration.

As sponsor of the contest, Farm Bureau Insurance has earned 11 national awards from the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge.

To learn more about the 51st contest year, view video highlights from last year’s awards day or to read highlights from last year's entries, visit FarmBureauInsurance.com/AmericaAndMe or contact Lisa Fedewa at 517-679-5411 or at [email protected].

About Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan was founded in 1949 by Michigan farmers who wanted an insurance company that worked as hard as they did. Those values still guide the company today and are a big reason why they are known as Michigan’s Insurance Company, dedicated to protecting the farms, families, and businesses of this great state. Farm Bureau Insurance agents across Michigan provide a full range of insurance services—life, home, auto, farm, business, retirement, Lake Estate®, and more—protecting over 500,000 Michigan policyholders.

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My Michigan Hero Essay Contest Winners

Haslett Middle School eighth-graders Ela Emden (1st place), Scarlett Eberhardt (2nd), and Mikyla Julian (3rd) were recognized by Farm Bureau Insurance for their essays in a statewide contest on the topic of "My Michigan Hero." Each school's winners move on to compete at the state level. Congratulations Ela, Scarlett, and Mikyla!  Pictured left to right: Mr. Newcombe, Ela Emden, Mrs. Allen holding Chromebook with Mikyla Julian, Scarlett Eberhardt, Mrs. Morris.

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Know A Hometown Hero?

Honor our nation’s heroes with the Operation Hometown Hero essay contest. Nassau County residents are invited to submit a brief essay—including a submission of scanned vintage family photos, letters or other mementos regarding military service—about veterans in their family, or those they know.

“I encourage residents to honor America’s veterans by paying tribute to their bravery and sacrifice in our Operation Hometown Hero essay contest,” said County Executive Ed Mangano. “Thank you to Stop & Shop for sponsoring this important program, and to the Museum of American Armor for hosting our winners for what is sure to be an educational experience.”

Participants may mail submissions to Operation Hometown Hero at the Museum of American Armor, 1303 Round Swamp Road, Old Bethpage, NY 11804 or email [email protected].

—Submitted by the Office of Ed Mangano

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Winners of the Essay Contest

After reviewing nearly 600 entries, we are pleased to announce the finalists of the looking for your lincoln hero contest. selecting these final entries wasn't easy, as we had many, many very good entries, so we want to thank everyone for doing a wonderful job of honoring the spirit of abraham lincoln, and celebrating the heroes of today., grand prize.

Abraham Lincoln

Organizer created on 6/18/2009 5:30:04 PM by

Last edited 12/23/2018 10:37:03 PM by Anthony Pouw

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Our 2024-25 Student Contest Calendar

Ten challenges that invite teenagers to engage, experiment, reflect and create — via writing, photography, audio, video and more.

By The Learning Network

Our annual Contest Calendar is probably the single most powerful thing we publish all year. Teachers tell us they plan their classes around our challenges, and tens of thousands of teenagers around the globe participate by creating narratives, reviews, videos, opinion pieces, podcasts, illustrations, photo essays and more.

For us, these contests are an honor and a joy to host. We love learning from young people — about what moves them and makes them mad, what intrigues and confuses and delights and defines them.

This year, we are bringing back some recent and longtime favorites, as well as introducing a few new challenges.

To begin, we have two options this fall in response to the U.S. election, though students around the globe are welcome. In September, we open with a series of special forums that invite teenagers to have thoughtful conversations about their civic and political identities, values and beliefs. Then, if they choose, they can work alone or with others to make something in response — whether in writing, video, audio or visual art. (Students can participate in one or both challenges, and we have a related invitation for educators .)

In the spring, we’re offering “My List,” a twist on our long-running review contest. This time, students can choose any collection of three to five works of art or culture to group in some way and then tell us why we should — or shouldn’t — check them out.

We’ll be posting the full rules and guidelines for each contest here when it opens. but for now you can look at the related resources we’ve provided, as well as last year’s rules, which will largely remain the same for our returning contests.

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York Co. student wins $1,000 scholarship in student essay contest

YORK COUNTY, Va. (WAVY) – The Virginia School Boards Association (VSBA) Conference of Education announced the winner of the 2024 VSBA Student Essay Contest on Tuesday.

Ann Cherian, who is a rising junior at Grafton High School in York County Public Schools, was announced as the winner of this year’s essay contest, themed called “Kind Hearts, Strong Schools.”

Judges stated Cherian’s insightful and heartfelt words won her a $1,000 scholarship, courtesy of WellNet Healthcare .

“This contest provides an incredible platform for school board members from across the Commonwealth to hear directly from our students on topics that matter to them,” VSBA Executive Director Gina Patterson said.

As a part of Cherian’s recognition, she was invited to deliver her speech to the Conference on Education in front of Virginia school board members, superintendents and school division staff.

Cherian’s speech can be viewed in full here.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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The Case for Mark Kelly as Kamala Harris’ VP Pick

I n the blink of an eye on Sunday last, the 2024 presidential race was totally transformed by Joe Biden’s historic withdrawal , followed by his immediate “full support and endorsement” of running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris . Oddsmakers, insiders, and cable news pundits were suddenly confronted with a tantalizing new political calculus.

No longer a contest between two aging nominees—a current and a former POTUS—now Democrats changed their lineup, leaving open only the question of who would be Harris’ vice presidential candidate.

Swiftly, Democrats around the country—delegates, superdelegates, donors, and Congressional leaders—unified in support of Vice President Harris. Overnight, it seemed, nearly $100 million dollars rushed into her campaign coffers. Now, Democrats gather around the cooler for one thing—her decision on a Vice President .

Read More: Who Could Be Kamala Harris’ Running Mate? Here’s the Shortlist

Having a strong bench from which to choose, early speculation centered on the Party’s outstanding governors—Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro, Kentucky’s Andy Beshear, North Carolina’s Roy Cooper, Colorado’s Jared Polis—all from states crucial in Electoral College competition. California governor, Gavin Newsom, has dealt himself out of the deck, in recognition of the Constitutional prohibition against both members of the ticket being from the same state.

Some have thought Harris might look to a current Biden cabinet officer—most prominently mentioned are Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

But informed speculation on Capitol Hill and at Washington think tanks , spiked by a new burst of energy and excitement in the Democratic Party, has focused on Arizona’s junior Senator, Mark Kelly, whose credentials and compelling life story have made him a most appealing possibility. To some extent, Harris has been considering Kelly. Shortly after Biden endorsed Harris, she telephoned a number of vice presidential possibilities. Kelly was one of them. Shortly thereafter, he was being officially vetted.

The case for Kelly is shiny, authentic, and persuasive. Kelly comes with extensive military experience, helping Harris, who has none. Kelly is a decorated Navy pilot with combat experience. He is a seasoned astronaut who commanded the Space Shuttle Endeavor. He campaigned as a political moderate favoring stricter gun control and won a Senate seat from Arizona. After four years on Capitol Hill, a tough place for making friends, Kelly is highly regarded by colleagues on both sides of the aisle. Since 2011, when his wife, former Congress woman Gabby Giffords , was almost killed in an assassination attempt, Kelly has never left her side, organizing her recovery effort, and gaining a reputation for loyalty and kindness, sharing the unbearable and gruesome experience with her. Both—Gifford and Kelly—are seen as American heroes.

That he almost certainly puts Arizona’s 11 electoral votes in the Democratic column is a clincher for Harris-Kelly and a coup de grâce for Trump-Vance.

In a recent conversation with Kelly’s identical twin brother, Scott, another retired Navy captain and astronaut, the Senator was described as a person skilled in crisis management and scientific exploration, tough on border security and gun control (though he himself owns guns and supports the Second Amendment). During his Senate career, Kelly has been instrumental in several important public policy initiatives, including landmark legislation to reduce prescription drug prices and lower out-of-pocket costs for seniors; the $52 billion bipartisan package to increase domestic microchip manufacturing, and select proposals to ban stock trading by members of Congress, and eliminate corporate PACs.

Given the clear determination of Democrats to arrive at and depart from their Chicago convention next month in an animated, energetic, unified posture, Kelly’s story and stature, if attached to the Harris ticket, would strengthen the Democratic quest for an election victory on November 5, ushering in a new generation of political leadership.

Welcome aboard, Commander Kelly.

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Local News | Hill student wins Greater Pottstown…

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Local News | Hill student wins Greater Pottstown Foundation’s 2024 Shandy Hill Essay contest

Received $30,000 scholarship from greater pottstown foundation.

She was born in Reading and grew up in Phoenixville, attended the Wyndcroft School and then The Hill School making her a Pottstownian by adoption.

Her parents both emigrated from Vietnam after the war, working hard at establishing themselves and bearing the brunt of hard work so that Diemmy and her brother received good educations and had lives more privileged than their own.

Her father is overseas working for the country that took him in. Diemmy acknowledges that despite attending Wyndcroft, Hill School is academically competitive and she still had to work very hard. She notes that despite being a minority, her Pottstown experience was free of prejudice.

She has indeed been very fortunate and is deeply grateful to have had the privileges that her parents struggled to provide her.

According to a release from the Greater Pottstown Foundation, Diemmy has a natural talent for writing, “her essay was intriguing, well written and most importantly touching. Her essay struck a chord with all the board members of the Greater Pottstown Foundation. She touched on the inner truth of our community when she concluded her essay:

“Look closer, however, and find that industry and money are never the things that make a city. Instead, it is the people — relentless and tough but caring and tenderhearted all at the same time. Pottstown is built on these kinds of people, the ones who are determined to make it so that, in the clearing of the steel mills’ rusty smoke, a stronger city lies in wait underneath. These are the people who make Pottstown both a community and a home, both a place for pursuing dreams and a place for achieving them. To me, Pottstown is its people, and there is nothing more special than that.”

“Her essay was human, honest, caring and compassionate and not a cookie-cutter attempt to fit a mold,” the release stated. “This essay was not a lament about drugs or crime, but rather a sincere evaluation of our community by a minority student who struggled to succeed and fit in, just like the struggles of the Pottstown she saw from a unique perspective, offering a valuable insight into who and what we really are as a community.”

Diemmy graduates this year and is off to the University of Pennsylvania. She has not yet decided what her major will be at Penn but hopes that whatever she chooses, it will help her make a significant impact.

She will get help making that impact with the $30,000 scholarship that comes with winning the Shandy Hill Essay Contest.

The Greater Pottstown Foundation does not want her to pay it back.

“We want her to pay it forward for the benefit of all,” the foundation stated. “We are certain that Diemmy’s future will be bright and whatever she decides to do, her impact will be great.”

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• Why is Mark Zuckerberg giving away Meta’s crown jewels?

Augustus Caesar goes on the open-source warpath

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A s alter egos go, Augustus Caesar is not a bad one for Mark Zuckerberg, pontifex maximus of Meta, owner of the Facebook family of apps. Both men started their march to power as teenagers. Both stopped at nothing to build empires—though unlike the impetuous Mr Zuckerberg, Augustus’s motto was “make haste slowly”. Both gave the illusion of sharing power (Augustus with the Senate, Mr Zuckerberg with shareholders) while wielding it almost absolutely. The Roman emperor is Mr Zuckerberg’s role model. In a recent podcast he used the 200-year era of stability ushered in by Augustus to illustrate why he is making Meta’s generative artificial-intelligence ( AI ) models available in a way that, with some poetic licence, he calls open source.

On July 23rd Mr Zuckerberg issued a manifesto laying out in greater detail the business case for open-source AI . That coincided with the release by Meta of Llama 3.1, a freely available large language model ( LLM ) whose most powerful version, it says, rivals the top offering from Open AI , maker of Chat GPT . Mr Zuckerberg said Meta’s intent was to liberate itself from the sort of gatekeepers that have constrained it in the past, such as Apple and its iPhones. That sounds sensible. It was lost on no one, though, that Meta is Llama’s sole gatekeeper.

Meta’s new model is certainly an attention-grabber. The biggest version has 405bn parameters (a common definition of LLM power), almost six times those in its predecessor. Mr Zuckerberg claimed that by next year the company’s models will reign supreme, throwing down the gauntlet to rivals like Open AI that have taken a closed approach. As both open and closed models get bigger, the debate over which is better is developing an almost theological intensity. On one side are the open-source purists in favour of decentralised “little tech”. On the other are closed-source realists who argue that greater centralisation and control are better for safety and national security.

Mr Zuckerberg’s manifesto further stirs that debate. Though questions remain about how genuinely open Meta’s models are, and its commitment to the approach, he makes a good case.

As he points out, open-source software has an illustrious pedigree. In the 1990s Linux, an obscure operating system created by a university student, eventually became the industry standard for servers, thanks in part to the backing of IBM , a tech giant of its day. The beauty of Linux’s approach was that it provided full access to its source code, enabling developers to modify and improve it. That differs subtly from Meta’s approach to AI . Percy Liang, co-founder of Together AI , a cloud-computing startup that will use Llama 3.1, calls the tech giant’s models “open weights”, rather than open source. Meta makes available the numerical values used in its models, known as weights, but doesn’t reveal the data on which the models are trained, which is the equivalent of the source code. That may reduce the ability of developers to customise its models. It is better than nothing, though.

This also raises the question of whether or not Meta might change its approach, leaving developers that rely on its models high and dry. Meta is not a charity, and building LLM s can be costly. Investors have shown in their hostile reaction to Mr Zuckerberg’s metaverse ambitions that, despite his control of the company’s voting shares, he does not have a blank cheque to splurge on whatever he likes. If Meta does not get the commercial benefits it expects, it may be forced to reconsider its approach.

Openness, meanwhile, raises two big safety concerns. The first is harm-prevention. Though Meta has probed Llama 3.1 for dangers, the bigger models get, the more risk there is that they could go rogue or be misused. Once released, such models do not have a kill switch. That, in turn, raises the issue of liability. Who bears responsibility if these models fall into the hands of bad actors? Regulators are grappling with such questions; a clampdown could affect the long-term viability of open-source AI .

Mr Zuckerberg’s rebuttal starts with self-interest. Meta benefits from its interactions with the open-source community, which will suggest ways to make its models better, he argues. Better models should in turn help the firm improve the performance of the AI products it offers to users of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, boosting engagement and profit. Meta’s business is based on advertising, rather than subscriptions, so it has no risk of cannibalising itself. What is more, though he does not say this, making its large language models available for free helps commodify the industry, undercutting the prospects of rival tech giants. As with IBM , which backed Linux against Microsoft’s Windows, Meta’s megabucks and clout are giving open-source AI a tailwind. Big firms such as Nvidia, creator of generative- AI chips and supplier of related offerings, and Amazon Web Services, a cloud provider, are incorporating Llama 3.1 into their products.

Mr Zuckerberg also insists that it is safer to have power concentrated in the hands of the many rather than the few. When it comes to national security, closing models to prevent China getting its hands on them would be counter-productive, he writes. It would hurt American innovation, and China might be able to steal the secrets anyway.

Mr Zuckerberg’s long-term bet is that openness will be good for the world as well as Meta. He has likened it to Augustus’s Pax Romana . After years of civil war in the wake of Julius Caesar’s death in 44 BC , few in Ancient Rome could conceive of the idea of a prolonged period of peace and prosperity. Likewise, he reckons, few investors at this point are able to imagine the long-term potential of Meta giving away its crown jewels. Like his hero, he has battles to fight before his position is secure. But he is on the warpath. ■

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This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Augustus on the open-source warpath”

Business July 27th 2024

Donald trump’s promise of a golden age for oil is fanciful, china’s robotaxis are racing ahead of tesla’s, lvmh is splurging on the olympics, can china smash the airbus-boeing duopoly, machines might not take your job. but they could make it worse.

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