The essays of Orchard Valley Middle School eighth-grader Ava Rutledge and Washington Township High School junior Sydney Cella recently earned top honors in the Tri-County Patriot’s Pen and Voice of Democracy Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW)-sponsored essay-writing contests. Both winners’ essays will be moved forward in the state competition.  

Rutledge’s essay addressed the 2020 theme “What is Patriotism to Me?” Cella wrote on the topic of

“Is This the Country the Founders Envisioned?”

Over the break, local VFW representative Peter Amoroso acknowledged Ava Rutledge’s award-winning essay.