Maple Valley Black Diamond Post 5052 Veterans of Foreign Wars honored the winners of this year’s Patriots Pen and Voice of Democracy contest at the Tahoma School District.

As part of the contest, students wrote a 250-400 essay with the prompt “Is our Constitution still relevant?”

Essays discussed things such as the Bill of Rights and the Second Amendment.

With more than 260 participants from Tahoma High, Cedar River and Tahoma middle schools, 10 winners and eight runner-ups moved on to the District 11 competition.

Patriots Pen and Voice of Democracy is the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ premier outreach program, engaging students in the community.

The winners received cash awards and the opportunity to compete at districts, which includes a majority of King County.

Dessa Mehan of Tahoma High School and Nathan Simmons of Tahoma Middle School both placed second in their divisions at the District competition. Notably, Simmons was second overall in the Patriots Pen competition.

Cedar River Middle School

Jessica Goulet Third

Robert Copeland Second

Katherine Ho Chee First

Megan Greenstein Honorable Mention

Tahoma Middle School

Piper Connel First

Kyle Sherick Third

Andrew Bruneel Second

Nicholas Dazell Honorable Mention

Nathan Simmons Honorable Mention

Kayla Ondick Honorable Mention

Jaclyn Allen Honorable Mention

Tracey Anderson Honorable Mention

Stephen Kinshella Honorable Mention

Haley Moss Honorable Mention

Tahoma High School

Isabel Bammer First

Dakota Storm Second

Dessa Meehan Second

Alissa Bates Third

District Winners

Dessa Meehan (Voice of Democracy Second), Nathan Simmons (Patriots Pen Second overall, sixth through eight grades.