Veterans of Foreign Wars All-American Post 10904 proudly announces the
selection – and advancement – of the 2021 VFW Teachers of the Year. This is
the second year in a row that all three teachers selected at the Post level
were advanced to the District level and, having been selected again, have
now advanced to the State level.
Trudy Nash of Temple Baptist School was selected in the high school
category; Will Pannell of Westwood Middle School was selected in the middle
school category; and Kelli Cunningham of Cowan Elementary School was
selected in the elementary school category.
These incredible teachers were not only selected from all area teachers at
the local Post level, but were then selected at the District level as the
best among Teachers of the Year from 9 other VFW Posts. They will now be
considered among the best teachers from 11 Districts, encompassing 91 VFW
Posts in Tennessee. State winners will be announced January 15, 2022 and
will advance to the National level. Emily Ezell of Cowan Elementary School
was awarded VFW’s National Teacher of the Year in 2018.
In addition to the outstanding teachers in our area, several local students
won the annual VFW essay competitions.
There were 64 submissions in the Patriots Pen essay competition at the
middle school level. This year’s subject was “How to be a good American”.
The winners are:
First Place: Katherine Clark of Temple Baptist School
Second Place: Carmen Barrett of Westwood Middle School
Third Place: Anza Reynolds of Westwood Middle School
Fourth Place: Sarah Shedd of Westwood Middle School
There were 16 entries in the Voice of Democracy essay competition at the
high school level. The subject was “America: Where do we go from here?” The
winners are:
First place: Andrew Hetrick of Coffee County Central High School
Second place: Rylee Bachyrycz of Temple Baptist School
Third place: Blake Albright of Temple Baptist School
Andrew Hetrick was also selected at the District level as the best of 54
submissions. He now advances to the State level.
