Students earn regional and national writing awards - Jefferson ...

Posted April 8, 2013, on www.jcpsky.net
Students earn regional and national writing awards
JCPS students earned many honors in the National Scholastic Writing Awards Program,
one of the largest and most prestigious recognition programs for student writers.
DuPont Manual High junior Peyton Walker earned one of only nine national Gold
Medals awarded in the Persuasive Writing category. You can read Peyton’s “The Facts
about Factory Farming” here: http://www.jcpsky.net/News/Archive/spotlight/walker.pdf.
Manual junior Hellary Zhang earned one of only twelve national Silver Medals in
Persuasive Writing for “America’s Role in Humanitarian Intervention”:
http://www.jcpsky.net/News/Archive/spotlight/zhang.pdf.
National winners and their teachers have been invited to attend an awards ceremony at
Carnegie Hall in New York City on Fri., May 31.
On the regional level, JCPS students competed against others at schools throughout
Kentucky and nine other states. Students at Manual, Atherton High, Butler High, Eastern
High, and Louisville Male High earned regional Gold Keys, Silver Keys, and Honorable
Mentions in several categories, including Dramatic Script, Flash Fiction, Humor,
Journalism, Personal Essay/Memoir, Persuasive Writing, Poetry, and Short Story.
Atherton student Jessica Jones and the following Manual students earned Gold Keys:
Mariah Barley, Jordyn Barnes, Christopher Bird, Jasmine Browning, Ashley Burkett,
Rachel Chance, Samantha Crowder, Sarah Doyle, Anna DuFour, Jenna Farineau,
Caroline Folz, Michael Grimes, Samantha Hall, Courtnee Hall, Morgan Hines, Adya
Jain, Jin Soo Kim, Alexandria Pence, Noelle Pouzar, Morgan Redmond, Raymond
Robinson, Catherine Sar, Margaret Shanks, Lucas Taylor, Leah Thompson, Peyton
Walker, and Hellary Zhang.
Many of the winners are students of Manual English teacher Alesia Williams, who says,
“I am constantly impressed with the ability of my students to reach and exceed the
extremely high standards I set for them. The awards they received from Scholastic are
just one more validation of their hard work and willingness to challenge themselves; it
helps them realize they truly are ready for the rigors of college writing. It is not just me

giving them a grade; it is instead them earning national recognition because good writing
is good writing.”
Some of the winning entries in the Scholastic competition are published in the National
Catalog, Best Teen Writing, and Spark (an anthology of middle school work), which are
distributed free to schools and libraries nationwide. Award-winning works have also
appeared in Scholastic publications, including The Best Young Writers & Artists in
America (Push), Scope, Junior Scholastic, and New York Times Upfront.
To contact the editor of this Web page, send an e-mail to
thomas.pack@jefferson.kyschools.us.
Additional JCPS news sources:
Our Kids—A monthly television program that highlights happenings in our schools, Our Kids is broadcast on
several channels, including KET, Louisville Metro TV, and LouNet (WKYI). The show is also available on the
JCPS YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/jcpsweb. Our Kids feature stories are available on
http://www.jcpsky.net.
Parent Connection—A newsletter mailed monthly during the school year to nearly 60,000 Louisville
families. Check your mailbox or visit http://www.jcpsky.net/Pubs/ParentConnection/welcome.shtml.