Sophomore Leah Denny’s exceptional writing has earned her second place in a creative writing contest centered around democracy.

Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) sponsors an annual audio essay contest for students in grades 9 to 12 themed as the Voice of Democracy. Students who enter have the opportunity to advance from districts, to regionals, and even nationals, along with the possibility of winning financial incentives.

Denny first entered the contests during her freshman year. “Mrs. Hazdic gave us the information last year in our creative writing class and nobody wanted to really enter it, but I decided the day before to do it,” Denny said, “I just sat down and wrote it in a few hours.”

The theme for this year’s Voice of Democracy contest was Why Veterans are Important to our Nation’s History and Future. “I talked about, basically, how things that we fight over all the time are things that we could have solved with simple conversation,” Denny said, “It wraps it up by saying that understanding one another and loving each other would help us all in the long run,”

Writers of the top three essays are invited to a attend a local VFW meeting.  “I like attending the (VFW) meetings because all the veterans come up and talk to you about it and congratulate you,” Denny said.

Denny also received second place during her freshman year.