Three Penn Manor School District middle school students earned awards in the VFW Patriot's Pen essay contest.

Madeline Musheno and Paige Farris from Marticville Middle School and Eileen Peachey from Manor Middle School were each honored for their works.

"(The essay had to be) about what patriotism means to you, and what it means to you in the community, or what you can do to be patriotic," Madeline said. "I wrote about what I thought it meant to be patriotic and mostly what I thought you could do in the community as just a regular person to show patriotism for your country and being proud to live in this country because it's so great."

Both Madeline and her mom were caught off-guard by the result of the competition. "I said, 'Mom, I won an award for this essay I wrote,' and she said, 'Oh, you wrote an essay?'" Madeline said. "She didn't even know about it at first. It was really funny because she said, 'Good job, Madeline.' And then when I learned that Paige had also won, that was cool."

Paige said of her essay, "If you're going to go see fireworks or do the Pledge (of Allegiance), that's normal things. You have to just really appreciate your country for why it was founded and appreciate you get to live in such a good country where you have so many freedoms because not all countries have that."

Madeline credited Marticville Middle's English and writing classes with helping her become a good writer. "They're very informative," she said. "We learn a lot of good techniques here in Miss (Jenna) Burger's class and Miss (Vicki) Fafel's. That has helped us immensely in our essays."

Paige agreed. "I think it helps that we're in the analytical class, because I think you do move at a faster pace, so you get to learn more things and you have a whole extra unit," she said.

Both students enjoy the process. "I feel like I'm good at it, and I'll do it for fun sometimes," said Paige. "I do enjoy doing it creatively."

Madeline added, "I really like writing. It's a lot of fun for me, and I like to do this little writing game with my one friend, Emmy, and we take turns writing a sentence, and then we'll just come up with this ridiculous passage of a story, and it's really fun. I really like to write a lot. It's my happy place."

Their teacher was impressed. "We really didn't work on it very much here in class, but I just explained all of the requirements and went over the opportunity that was offered from the (Millersville) VFW," said Fafel. "I just posted it for the girls and for the whole class, and I didn't make it a requirement that they participate. Both of them are very strong students overall, particularly with writing and creative writing."

Eileen's essay was influenced by her family's military service, including her grandfather Scott Peachey; mother, Ashley Peachey; and father, Justin Wren.

"I grew up with my mom and my grandma and my grandpa, and my mom was in the Army when I was a baby," said Eileen. "I think having veterans in my household taught me a lot about appreciating my country and how lucky I am to live in such a great place. I think that was, a huge reason why I wanted to write the essay, because I wanted to inspire other people and spread the word on how to be grateful for how amazing our country is."

"I think it's awesome when I see students like her succeed," Eileen's teacher Hope Rock said. "I think that a lot of my students are capable of this, and she was one that took the shot and went for it. I'm really proud of what she did, because she is a phenomenal writer, and I'm not surprised by her winning, because she is just that good writer, so I'm really proud of her."

Eileen ate some Moose Tracks ice cream to celebrate. "I was really surprised," she said. "I didn't think my work was that great. I hugged Miss Rock, my teacher, and my mom. My mom was really happy for me. We went and got ice cream."

A trip to the Millersville VFW was like a cherry on top. "Everyone was so nice, some of the nicest people I've ever met," said Eileen. "I didn't know any of them beforehand, and by the time I left, it felt like I just made a bunch of new friends."