Vero Beach Elks Lodge #1774 had 109 participants in the Americanism essay contest. Nine students, pictured April 18, were chosen as winners for the Southeast Central District. Four of these students placed in the top three of their age divisions for the state contest — Tripp Gunter, second place, eighth grade (second from left); Gabriel Escobar, third place, fifth grade (third from left); Abigail Dupay, first place, sixth grade (seventh from left); and Daniela Martinez, third place, seventh grade (eighth from left). Pictured in the back are Jane Ferguson, 2022-2023 Americanism Lodge Chair, and Joseph Palowich, PER, last year’s Exalted Ruler during the contest.