Commander Joe Csuka of the Wake Forest Veterans of Foreign Wars Memorial Post 8466 reminds area students that this year’s VFW Student Essay competition is still ongoing. Local students have the opportunity to compete for thousands of dollars in awards, scholarships, trips to Washington, DC and more. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) started the Voice of Democracy Scholarship program in 1947. The VFW became a national sponsor in the late 1950s and assumed sole responsibility for the program in 1961. The competition was created to provide students grades 9-12 the opportunity to express themselves in regard to democratic ideas and principles. Around 40,000 students participate in the competition each year and VFW awards more than $2 million in scholarships every year. The program was expanded to include middle school students with the Patriot’s Pen competition in 1995. Since then hundreds of thousands of students have participated. High school students

The Wake Forest Area Chamber of Commerce is the sponsor and Atlantic Tire & Service is the presenter for the chamber’s 29 annual golf tournament that will be played Monday, Sept. 27, at the Country Club at Wakefield Plantation. It is a captain’s choice tournament that raises funds for the chamber’s small business programming and workforce development initiatives. It costs $200 per golfer for chamber members and $225 for non-members. Cart and greens fees are included and beverages, snacks and lunch are provided. See the registration packet on the chamber website for all details. Sponsorships are available. Download the sponsorship information packet for details. * * * * The chamber will sponsor a Candidates Forum on October 7 along with Wake Electric Membership Corporation, the Knightdale-Wake Forest Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and The Wake Weekly. There are two candidates for Wake Forest mayor, the incumbent Mayor Vivian