Nishida, Tiglao win VFW annual competitions

 Two students were the big winners in this year’s Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3457 competitions after being adjudged first placers in the audio recording and essay contests.

Calvary Christian Academy’s Midori Nishida was hailed champion for the Voice of Democracy competition where she bested 54 other contenders.

With the theme “Is there pride in serving our military?” the competition is open for high school students to freely express their views about patriotism, democracy, and loyalty through an audio recording.

The 12th grader was awarded a certificate of recognition and a cash prize of $100 during a special ceremony Thursday night at VFW office in Beach Road.

According to Nishida, this was her second time in the contest but the first time she bagged the overall title. Her winning entry was sent to VFW’s Guam counterpart to compete with its champion.

Nishida said she likes to join the competition because she finds the event a great venue to voice out her views and opinions.

For the junior high division, VFW conducted the Patriot’s Penn competition where middle school students were encouraged to submit essays discussing their opinion on the theme “Are you proud of your country?” Saipan Community School’s Mary Grace Tiglao emerged overall winner in this category and was also awarded a certificate of recognition and $100 cash prize. It was Tiglao’s first time in the competition and she bested over 40 students in the category.

VFW Post 3457 commander Mariano Fajardo, along with other officials and members of the post, also recognized Paul Murphy, this year’s recipient of the Citizenship Education Teacher Award.

Murphy is a teacher at Marianas Baptist Academy and was nominated by his students, co-workers, and family for the recognition. A cash prize and certificate were also provided to the outstanding educator.

When asked why he thinks he was nominated and selected for the honor, Murphy said as a teacher, it is important to impart to students the reality of the world because students are key in making a difference in society.

According to Fajardo, the first place winners will represent VFW Post 3457 in the same competition first in the district level, and if successful, will vie for the title at the department, state, and at the national levels where up to $30,000 in scholarship grants await the national champion for the Voice of Democracy, while $10,000 awaits the national winner for the Patriot’s Penn category.

Also awarded certificates and cash prizes of $75 and $50 were the second and third place winners, respectively.

In the high school division, Marianas High School’s Vivien Viernes was the second placer, while Calvary’s Savannah Delos Santos was third place.

In the junior high division, CCA’s Nesanne Mae Tam and Devonne Dotts were named second and third place winners, respectively.

Entries to the competitions were all judged by selected members of the community. VFW Post 3457 has been conducting the competitions for 10 years now. According to Fajardo, the group will continue to collaborate with private and public schools to get a bigger pool of entries in the coming years.