WINTERPORT – Jillian Beal of Winterport, a freshman physical therapy student at American International College, won first prize in the college’s Veterans Day essay contest.

She is the daughter of Barbara and Kenneth Beal and a graduate of Hampden Academy.

Beal’s patriotic essay, “A Salute to You,” was read aloud during the annual Veterans’ Day Observance on the campus quadrangle on Nov. 11. She was presented with a gift certificate to the Follett bookstore by the veterans’ committee. Nearly 100 students, faculty, staff and alumni were present.

Beal wrote about how the United States of America thanks the soldiers who continue to make the country free through song lyrics and motion picture.

She wrote, “Veterans deserve great thanks for the sacrifices that they have made so the country could be a better place to live. No song, movie or day will be able to show the traumatic experience that these people have gone through to make the United States of America free. The life that we live today would be unknown if it wasn’t for the battles that were won for us.”

The Veterans Day observance continued with a talk by Brian Clearly, World War II veteran and former director of the college’s Curtis Blake Center, who spoke about the minesweeping operations that took place in preparation for the D-Day landings. A Marine Corps honor guard and rifle unit from Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee, Mass., took part, and a march of the college’s veterans concluded the ceremony.