Saint Joseph School was well represented during an awards ceremony on March 9 for those who placed in an essay contest sponsored by the Pack Horse Ford Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Present were all eight of the SJS students who came in first, second or third in the contest for their writings from the viewpoint of a newspaper reporter assigned to write a story about the first performance of John Phillip Sousa’s “The Stars and Stripes Forever” in May 1897 in Philadelphia. Also on hand at the Shepherdstown (W.Va.) Train Station were teachers, family members of the winners – from SJS, Mill Creek Intermediate and Faith Christian Academy – and members of the DAR.
“It’s critically important that we pass on this (American) history to our children and their children’s children,” said Susan Benson, chairwoman of the American history essay contest for Pack Horse Ford Chapter.
Placing from SJS, a private Catholic school in Martinsburg, W.Va., were:
- Fifth grade: Lillia Kelley, second place; and Calvin Fanjoy, third place
- Sixth grade: Liam Riffey, first place; Lorelei Oligmueller, second place; and Aubrey Lee, third place
- Eighth grade: Braylen Cole, first place; Charlie Dunn, second place; and Savannah Bischoff, third place
All of the winning students received certificates and cash prizes at the ceremony, and those who placed first read their essays. In addition to Cole and Riffey, Mill Creek Intermediate fifth-grader Hope Brill and Faith Christian Academy seventh-grader Macie White shared their writings with those assembled.
During the ceremony, it was announced that White also won at the state level.
Benson said a total of 63 students in grades five through eight from four schools took part in the competition, for which students wrote about Sousa’s life and the story behind the song, which became the national march of the United States on Dec. 11, 1987.
