Birchwood Makes Its Mark at Regional Power of the Pen Tourney
Much is expected of the students in the writing program at Cleveland’s Birchwood School of Hawken. The Birchwood seventh and eighth graders – a total of nine writers – didn’t disappoint this past Saturday at the Lake Erie Regional Power of the Pen tournament held at Hudson Middle School. Both Birchwood teams placed in the top five of their grade levels while also scoring runner-up honors in the coveted team Sweepstakes competition.
In each writing round, Power of the Pen competitors respond on paper to a prompt during three back-to-back-to back, 40-minute writing rounds. Of the nearly 200 writers from 41 area schools, Birchwood School of Hawken students more than held their own. In fact, Birchwood students were called to the stage so often that the tournament host remarked "I don't know what they're putting in the water at Birchwood" and "you've heard this name a lot today!"
The Birchwood seventh grade scribes of Anne, Danah, Mabel, and Tzurielle put an exclamation point on their day with a third place finish while the school’s eighth graders – David, Jenna, John, Nathan, and Vivian – wrote their way to fourth place. Each team competed with others in the same grade.
Birchwood teams also impressed in the Sweepstakes competition, a ranking determined by the total points combined by a school’s teams in both the Regional and District tournaments. Of the 41 schools competing, Birchwood School of Hawken’s seventh and eighth grade writers placed second.
Individual Recognition
Also, three seventh graders inked top five finishes in individual competition: Anne, 2nd (a mere two points separating her from the top spot); Danah, 3rd; and Tzurielle, 5th.
A trio of Birchwood eighth graders also scribbled into individual recognition: John, 2nd; David, 3rd; and Jenna, 11th.
District ‘Best of Round’ Recognition
Once the District 2 tournament concluded in January, the best writing from each round was judged again with one piece for each prompt selected as the “Best of Round.” Of the six “Best of Round” honors awarded at the district tournament, Birchwood writers took three of them.
- 7th grade: Round 2, Mabel, “The Unforgivable Injury”; Round 3, Anne, “Redemption”
- 8th grade: Round 3, Nathan, “Mission Accomplished”
Congratulations are also due to Birchwood POP coaches, teachers Lorraine Tzeng, Jenn Seward, Benson Anderson, and Jordan Dreyer.
The State Tournament, scheduled for May 18, at Ashland University, is the final round of competition. The six Birchwood students who placed individually have already qualified for that tournament.
But there may be even more Birchwood students headed for Ashland. The top 20-25 percent of writers from regionals will also receive an invitation; those qualifiers will be announced in the next couple of weeks.
But there may be even more Birchwood students headed for Ashland. The top 20-25 percent of writers from regionals will also receive an invitation; those qualifiers will be announced in the next couple of weeks.
More than 266 schools across the state are competing in POP this year.
