PATRIOT'S PEN ESSAY CONTEST 2021 - 2022 Winner,

Minha Ashraf

Theme - The Bracelet of America

Minha Ashraf  7th grader at A2 Virtual Academy

 I want to be a part of a bracelet. The bracelet of America. 

      But what is an American? Truth is, you cannot define an American by words. But, you can define an American by the actions they take. 

      A good American is one who does what they believe is right. In World War Ⅱ, so many men and women sacrificed their lives when they stood up to help for the good of others, a core American value. This simple, yet courageous act changed the way we, as a country, are now. 

      A good American is one who displays compassion to help others. In the devastating category 4 Hurricane Harvey, Nick Sheridan, along with two other truck drivers, drove their tractor-trailers for some 200 miles. Their compassion helped save and rescue more than 1,000 people. 

      A good American is one who is patriotic to their country. September 11, 2001, was a tragic day, killing more than 2,900 people. So many of the victims were firefighters who ran towards the danger, trying to rescue and save others. They were true patriots. 

      A good American is one who is ready to sacrifice. Sacrifice itself is displayed in so many ways, from frontline workers and first responders sacrificing themselves to save others, to soldiers in the World Wars who fought the fight with all their might for all that’s true and right, to veterans who sacrificed their lives for a better future for us all. 

      Words cannot, and will never, give justice to what a good American is. But this bracelet can. We are all like beads on a bracelet. All diverse and all of different backgrounds, of divided pasts but a united future. Its string is what makes us America. It isn’t just what makes us the most innovative, the most diverse country, the country that went to the edge of space and beyond. No, we are more than that. We are a country filled with patriots and heroes. Ordinary people who achieve the extraordinary. We are a country filled with values, with passion, with potential, potential to act. This bracelet of America, these beads of diversity, this string of goodness, this is how I can be a good American.

2nd Place Lilly - Clachar Tappen Middle School, 7th. Grade, $300

3rd Place Mia Lin - Clague Middle School 7th. Grade, $200

Nate Powell

Voice of Democracy/Patriots Pen Chairman

Graf-O'Hara VFW Post 423

3230 S. Wagner Road

Ann Arbor, MI 48108

734-678-2444

powell@aaps.k12.mi.us