Kearney Junior High eighth-grader Ellianna Murrell was honored recently by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1668 in St. Joseph, Mo., for her essay written in response to the prompt, “Why America Inspires Me.”

Murrell earned second place in the VFW post’s essay contest. The honorees were celebrated during an event in January at the post. Murrell received a certificate of merit and $100.

Murrell is a student in one of Kearney Junior High eighth-grade American history teacher Scott Crall’s classes. Mr. Crall had his students respond to the VFW essay prompt as part of their classwork. He then submitted the essays to the post for the contest.

Theresa Murrell, Ellianna’s mother, was very grateful that Crall gave his students this opportunity.

“I am so proud of her and I’m thankful to you as I did not even realize that this program existed,” Theresa Murrell wrote in an email to Crall. “Thank you for inspiring your students to write about this incredible country that they are blessed to live in.”

Ray Weikal, Kearney School District contributed to this story.