WH students participate in veterans essay contest

Sophia Wade and Rheagan Carroll receive their awards for placing in a veterans essay contest. Also pictured are James Warren (left) and Joseph Hamrick Jr., veterans employment representatives, and Whitehouse Junior High School principal David Smith and teacher Edwina Bulman.

The fourth annual veteran focused essay writing contest has honored two Whitehouse students. Rheagan Carroll placed second in the competition and Sophia Wade place third. Both girls are in the seventh grade at Whitehouse Junior High and participated in the essay writing through Edwina Bulman's history class.

"With our brave men and women engaged in wars on two fronts, we wanted a way to get the children involved in the celebration held each year," said James E. Warren, veterans employment representative.

The one-day job fair was created with a focus on veterans in 2004 and has grown into a month-long celebration honoring veterans through a wall of honor with photographs of workforce employees and their family members who have served or are still serving.

"This first vet-forced job fair brought in over 700 job seekers and over 50 employers and was the largest job fair that the East Texas Workforce Solutions had ever had," Warren said.

Bulman expressed pride in her class, which entered more than 100 essays about "What being a veteran means to me."