Cleveland-On May 27th several Birchwood students
traveled to Wooster, Ohio, to compete in the twentyseventh
Annual Power of the Pen State Competition for
Young Writers. Trevor L, Hannah Y, Joan C, Katelyn
V, and Naomi W placed fourth as a team. Among the
seventh graders Naomi W received 3rd place and Katelyn
V placed 7th.
The competitors at the college of Wooster comprised of
writers from twenty-eight District and twelve Regional
winners held throughout the State of Ohio. Approximately
700 writers from 275 schools in Ohio participated in the
all-day writing event. From the district level on, Power of
the Pen works with 500 middle schools throughout Ohio
and generates 25,000 pieces of writing annually.
At each level students are given prompts from which to
showcase their creativity and excellence in writing. They
compete in three 35-minute writing rounds and some are
chosen for a “Power Round,” where they vie for trophies,
cash prizes, and college scholarships. Only 50% of the 700
of the state qualifiers were chosen for the “Power Round”
this year. Among those chosen were Trevor, Katelyn,
and Naomi.
“That our small school has five state qualifiers, let
alone placing fourth among all the schools in the 82
Ohio counties is certainly noteworthy,” Lorraine Tzeng
commented. Since the Power of the Pen started,
Birchwood has consistently had representatives at the
state competition.
The 2011 Future Problem Solving International Conference
was held in La Crosse, Wisconsin, from June 9 through
June 12. Representing the state of Ohio were six students
from Birchwood: Katelyn V, Ammar M, Anthony C,
Prathna K, Pheby L, and Michael T who competed
in the scenario writing, individual FPS, and team FPS,
respectively. Katelyn V’s scenario placed first at the
International Conference among 73 entries in the middle
division from 44 states and 6 other countries. In addition,
Katelyn participated in the impromptu future scene writing
competition, where she was assigned to work with three
other scenario winners to collaborate on one writing piece.
Her team came in third place. Kudos to the parents and
chaperones who braved the ten-hour drive and endured
the dorm facilities.
