WHITEHALL — The White Lake VFW presented awards to Whitehall U.S. history teacher Brian Milliron and three of his students last Thursday for their participation in the VFW’s annual essay contest.
Milliron was named district teacher of the year by the VFW for the third year in a row; the district consists of 10 counties for the contest’s purposes. Students Sophia McCreedy, Graden McGahan and Kaiden Holdeman were the top three finishers in the class in the contest, whose theme was “What are the greatest attributes of our democracy?”
Each of the trio received a backpack, a medal and a scholarship check from the VFW, presented by local post commander Dondi Kowalski. McCreedy and Holdeman had prior commitments so were unable to be at the ceremony.
Milliron said this is the first year Whitehall High School has had an honors U.S. History course in addition to the advanced placement (AP) courses he was previously teaching. Twenty-nine sophomores at the school are enrolled in the honors course.
“I’m hoping to feed (these students) into the AP U.S. History (course), which will allow them to get some college credit,” Milliron said. “Sophia McCreedy’s just one of those kids. I had her brother Ryan last year on the Quiz Bowl team. They’re a great family, great group of kids. Sophie does a great job being able to balance everything as well.”
Milliron said his teaching is informed by the veterans in his family; among others, his father-in-law served in the U.S. Navy. It makes participation in the VFW contest a no-brainer for his class.
“We have a lot of kids whose (family have) been veterans as well,” Milliron said. “It’s a great motivator for them. We’ve had some fantastic participation for this over the years. Liam Szegda made the state (level in the essay contest in 2022). We’ve just got some really great kids, and some kids who understand the reality of how lucky we are to be here in this country and everybody that sacrificed for it.”
Milliron noted that he is the district’s representative for the Michigan Council for the Social Studies as well, and the council’s own event - the Social Studies Olympiad - carried similar themes.
“It’s something that I look forward to each year and the kids do as well,” Milliron said. “We’re able to honor some kids today and some money for scholarships helps, too.”
