•February 3, 20201•
By Crystal Reed
NP Writer

Sullivan High School sophomore Paul Bates took third in the district contest for the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ Voice of Democracy competition. Bates said that the district competition included entrants from the five surrounding counties.
His essay won at the high school level which advanced him to the district level. This year’s essay theme was “Is This The Country That The Founders Envisioned?”
Bates said that his essay focused on how the founder of our country set out to make us a free and properous nation and how he thinks that has come to friution. In addition to writing the actual essay he had to record himself reading the essay and place the file on a flash drive to be submitted.
“I thought it was a good way to get my opinion out there and good practice to learn to write better,” Bates said.