Henrico student one of two winners in Virginia War Memorial Veterans Day essay contest
Table of Contents
An eighth-grade student from Henrico County and a high school junior from Fairfax County were the first-place winners in the Virginia War Memorial’s 2023 Veterans Day Student Essay Contest. The winners were announced at the 67th Annual Veterans Day Ceremony held November 10 at the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond.
The winner in the middle school category was David Contreras, an eighth-grade homeschooled student who lives in Henrico. His teacher is his mother, Rachel Contreras. Mia Ramos, an 11th grade student at W. T. Woodson High School in Fairfax, won in the high school category; her teacher is Ashley Kipperman.
The annual competition was open to middle and high school-age students residing in Virginia and enrolled in public or private schools or homeschooled. The essay topic for the 2023 competition was “A Virginian Who Served in the Military During the Korean War Era Who Inspires Me.”
Both contest winners were invited to Richmond, where they read their essays aloud on stage as part of the Veterans Day ceremony. Both also received prize packages donated by the Virginia War Memorial Foundation and McDonald’s Restaurants of Richmond and Hampton Roads.
The winning essays can be viewed online at https://vawarmemorial.org/learn/contests-scholarships/essay/.
