Ben Garbacz/Daily Mining Gazette From left, Ozzie Nykanen, Chelsea Jriana Antilla placed first in the "Patriot Pen" amongst the sixth through eighth graders at Calumet School. Her essay went onto place second in VFW District 15, which consists of the western U.P. She received a plaque and check from the CLK VFW 3900 Auxiliary at the awards banquet at the Calumet Post.

CALUMET — The CLK VFW 3900 Auxiliary held its awards banquet at the Calumet Post Friday to honor students from Calumet Middle and High Schools. The students participated in the VFW’s 2024-25 writing and art programs. The students’ rewards reflected their ranking within their school district, but the students now advance to district, state and national levels of competition.

The students’ entries were assigned first as school projects, but once completed, the students had the option of submitting them in the VFW competitions. Calumet High School English teacher Julie Antilla was impressed with her class’s diverse approach to writing about democracy.

“Because it’s such a universal theme and statement the pieces were all very, very different,” Antilla explained. “[It’s] because each student kind of has their own take on it. And then when we talk about how to write it, I always try to tell them to try to blend in their own personality, maybe talk about their own feelings and thoughts on history, their past or different kinds of things that they might connect with that particular theme.”

The programs included the Voice of Democracy, Patriot Pen, two Creative Patriotic Art Contests and the 3-D Patriotic Art Contest. The Voice of Democracy Program was reserved for high schoolers and consisted of an audio-essay that is from three to five minutes in length. The theme for the audio-essay was “Is America Today Our Forefathers’ Vision?”

The winner of the Voice of Democracy was Ozzie Nykanen, whose essay moved on to place third within VFW District 15 which includes Houghton, Keewenaw, Baraga, Ontonagon, Dickinson, Gogebic and Iron Counties. His audio-essay revolved around how the topics the Founding Fathers’ talked about and debated were products of the time, and that if they were taken to the present they too would debate the same topics modern Americans are faced with. Nykanen mentioned LGBT rights as an example of a topic, and how he sees them as individual rights.

“The large argument I made was it really doesn’t affect you,” he said. “Like if a man marries another man, it doesn’t affect you. If a person feels they’re their own gender and wants to transition, it doesn’t affect you. There is just no reason to be worked up about anybody just being who they want to be. The argument I made was it all pertains to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Patriot Pen was open to sixth to eighth graders and required a 300 to 400 word essay on one sheet of paper. The theme for this essay was “My Voice in America’s Democracy?” The two Creative Patriotic Art Contests and the 3-D Patriotic Art Contest were split between the grade levels, with the themes correlating with the essays’ grade levels.

Briana Antilla took first place in this program and then placed second in District 15. She also took first place in the Patriotic Art Contest for sixth through eight graders. Nynna Jarvi took first for the Patriotic Art Contest for high school. Aili Heflin won first place in the 3-D Patriotic Art Contest. Heflin, Antilla and Jarvi’s entries are all currently being judged on the state level.

All winners from Calumet School received checks from the VFW 3900 Calumet Auxiliary. VFW 3900 Auxiliary President Della Petaja said she hopes the experience the students had motivates them to become patriotic.

“I hope they experience their love of their nation,” Petaja said. “Hopefully they care about the VFW when all this is over with, and they’ll do it next year again if they’re able.”