Language Arts Competition Results
2009 Scholastic Writing Awards
Three students were awarded the regional Gold Key in this year’s Scholastic Writing Awards, presented by the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers. Congratulations to Jacob B, Jacob D, and Ilona K. Their writings were among 1400 chosen from 140,000 works submitted. Their works are forwarded to the national level for judging. Jacob B‘s short story entitled "War" was about the conflicting choices the main character faced as he encountered the rites of passage into manhood, while Jacob D used the context of Atlantis as the setting of his ancient historical fiction. "Atlantis" involved the heroine grappling with the explanations for the tremors occurring more frequently on the island. In Ilona’s fictional world an orphaned girl attempted to save her village by embarking on a quest to face a dreaded sorceress in "Sasaki and the Crown of King Saraab."
Power of the Pen
At the regional competition in February at Garfield Middle School in Lakewood, the eighth grade team received the third place trophy among the forty schools represented. The scores of both the seventh and eighth grade team combined put them in fourth place for the Sweepstakes Award. Oliver D received an honorable mention for the Best of Rounds Award. Despite the strong showing of the team, only Thomas W will be attending the state competition in May. Jacob D is the official alternate.
Letters about Literature
Sponsored by the Center of the Book of the Library of Congress, this national competition encourages reading and writing by having students write to an author of a book that helped them in some way. Birchwood fifth and sixth graders took up this challenge. We received exciting news recently that Trevor L is the state winner for his letter to Jerry Spinelli. Trevor received close to $200 in monetary awards and prices. His work will be qualified for national judging. In addition Hannah Y and Susmita R were semi-finalists.
The letters of six other students also stood out in the first round of judging: Marla B, Alexander I, Sachi G, Peter A H, Christine B, and Sebastian D. These students were among the 164 chosen from a total pool of 2600 letters. Impressive Birchwood showing!
NCTE Promising Young Eighth Grade Writer
Thomas W represented the eighth grade class to submit an edited piece of writing and another short expository/memoir for this competition sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English. We wish him the best of luck.
Win with Words
In February four sixth grade boys represented Birchwood at St. Edward’s High School for a local spelling competition: Prithvi P, Trevor L, Abhijeet S, Hassan S. Trevor received a ribbon for making it to the final round. Abhijeet received a second place award in the excellence division, and Hassan placed third in the merit division. Demi Z was the lone sixth grade girl that faced the competition at the girls’ spelling event at Magnificat High School. She made it to the final oral round in the championship division and placed sixth.
History Day
Birchwood School had a stellar showing at the district History Day competition held at Case Western Reserve University on March 21. Beginning with the historical paper category, Ilona K earned second place with her paper on Martin Luther. Birchwood swept the website category with three place finishers. Earning first place was Nathan C with his website on Alexander Graham Bell. Second place was awarded to Lulu S for her website on George Mason, one of the founding fathers. Miranda M earned a third place award for her website on Florence Nightingale. In the group performance category, Zaeem M and Miguel P took first place with their performance on the Cuban Missile Crisis. Two individual performers earned second and third place. Jacob D earned second place for his performance on Werhner Von Braun and Nardine T earned third with her performance on "Mother" Bickerdyke, a Civil War nurse. In the documentary categories, Birchwood had a very strong showing. Oliver D took first place with his individual documentary on the Cuban Missile Crisis. Isaac Y earned third place with his documentary on Dwight D. Eisenhower. In the group documentary category, Birchwood students earned all three top honors. In first place were Serena C and Clare P with their documentary on Jacob Riis. Thomas W and Shawki A earned second place with their documentary on Admiral Nimitz. In third place were Deepak K and Zach I for their documentary on Robert Oppenheimer. This year, two sixth graders received an honorable mention for their exhibit boards. Sanjana R did an exhibit on Lewis Hine and Nikola D did his exhibit on Nikola Tesla. All eighteen of these students will compete at the state competition at Columbus Community College on April 25. In addition, three students won generous cash awards from the Settlers Association of the Western Reserve for their excellent projects on a local history topic. Ben W did a paper on Thomas Edison and Carlf C did an exhibit board also on Thomas Edison. Nina R did an individual documentary on Garrett Morgan. Congratulations to all these student and good luck at states!!
National Geographic Geography Bee
Congratulations to Trevor L for qualifying for the state competition for the Geography Bee! Trevor qualified by answering very difficult geography questions on a written test. He was one of the top 100 scorers across the state. Trevor will compete on April 3 at The Ohio State University Mansfield Campus. Good luck!!
