Officers and members of the Westfield-West Springfield Lodge of Elks observe Flag Day on June 12 with an annual ritual service.
Reminder Publishing photo by Mike Lydick
WESTFIELD — Ava Skowron, a sixth grader at Doering School in Agawam, is one of two statewide winners of an annual Americanism essay contest to be sponsored by the Westfield-West Springfield Lodge of Elks.
She was recognized at the lodge’s annual Flag Day ritual on June 12 that recounts, honors and celebrates the creation and history of the United States flag. The Elks is the first and only fraternal organization to celebrate Flag Day, said Patricia O’Connor, an Agawam resident who serves as chair of the lodge’s Americanism Committee.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
O’Connor said Americanism is always forefront in the minds of Elks.
“This contest is vitally important to us, as it promotes Americanism in our local communities and encourages our young people to thoughtfully consider American values and appreciate the blessings and responsibilities of citizenship by giving them the opportunity to thoughtfully evaluate and express their views in an essay on the selected annual theme.”
This year’s essay theme was “What the Bill of Rights Means to Me.” The contest is judged in four separate grade levels, grades 5-8. It starts at the local level and then progresses through district and state levels before ending with the naming of the national winners in July. The Westfield-West Springfield lodge had two winners at the state level.
Makaylah Motyl, who lives in Russell and attends Gateway Regional Middle School, was the local Elks’ only entry at the eighth grade level, and placed third in the statewide contest. The Westfield-West Springfield lodge had no entries in the fifth and seventh grade levels.
Skowron was the second-place finisher among sixth graders in the local Elks contest, and first place overall in the statewide competition. There were two other grade 6 entries in the local contest, both from Doering: Karolena Poznyur (first place locally) and Coranna Murphy (third place). The local winners were honored by the lodge in February. The top three in each level received a certificate and monetary award at the local and state levels.
Skowron said she was encouraged to enter the contest by her English and social studies teacher.
“It took me around a week to settle on my final idea for the essay,” said Skowron. “There were many drafts before I had my final version. It took me around three days to write the essay and another three days to edit it.”
Skowron learned she was one of the local winners during a school assembly. She later found out that she was a state finalist when her mother got a call from the Elks lodge.
“I was very excited when I learned I had won,” she said. “My teacher told me how awesome it was that I won and how big of an accomplishment it was.”
This is not the first time she has been recognized in an essay contest. She also received an honorable mention in a Veterans Administration contest, “How I’m Inspired by America.” Skowron wrote about her father, who served in the U.S. Navy.
The 12-year-old added that she considers herself a good writer who is confident in what she writes.
“I thought that it was a good experience to write this essay because I got to learn what the Bill of Rights really means to me,” she said. In her essay, Skowron wrote that without the Bill of Rights, citizens in this country would live in a world full of unfairness.
“If we didn’t have the Bill of Rights, people would not be treated the same as others. The amendment that sticks out the most to me in the Bill of Rights is freedom of speech, religion, press and freedom of assembly. This amendment is important because it allows everybody to have a place in government and practice any religion,” she wrote.
Her essay continued: “The Bill of Rights has evolved over time to ensure everyone has the same rights. Before, African Americans had no rights and were treated like objects. Women were not listened to and didn’t have a place at all in government or in politics. We’ve come a long way from that, now we have a female vice president. The Bill of Rights has changed the lives of so many people and it will continue to change their lives for many years to come.”
The purpose of the Elks Flag Day ceremony is to honor the country’s flag, to celebrate the anniversary of its origins and to recall achievements attained beneath it. During the ceremony, Roland Perkins, past exalted ruler for the lodge, described the history of the different U.S. flags, as members of Boy Scout Troop 821 of Westfield carried in different versions of the flag from its origin in 1775 to the present day.
“The greatest significance of this flag lies in the influence it has in the hearts and minds of millions of people,” said O’Connor at the end of the ceremony. “It has waved over the unparalleled progress of a nation in developing democratic institutions, scientific and technological knowledge, education and culture. It has served as a beacon for millions of poor and oppressed refugees abroad, and stands as a promise that the underprivileged will not be forgotten.”
Flag Day is always observed on June 14, the date in 1777 when the Continental Congress adopted the “Stars and Stripes” as the original American flag. While Flag Day is not a federal day off, it became an officially recognized day following a proclamation signed by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916.
