Creative Writing Advances Birchwood Teams to the Next Level
On February 6th, Birchwood’s seventh and eighth grade teams competed at the district level Power of the Pen creative writing tournament taking top honors. The seventh grade team placed second and the eighth grade team placed first. Both teams advance to the regional competition.
Individually, Isabelle Bixler won 4th place overall, and also a “best of round” award. Areesha Nouman won “Best of Round” in two out of the three rounds.
Coaches Charles Debelak, Lorraine Tzeng, Jennifer Seward, and Maysan Haydar congratulate their teams who will go on to compete in the regional tournament on March 13th hosted by Baldwin-Wallace University:
7th grade:
Isabella Bixler
Mariana Del Rio
Omar Elbadawy
Katie Leonardi
Areesha Nouman
Michael Zhu
8th grade:
Cadence Guo
Sinan Haufe
Dilan Nadkarni
Sebastian Boyer
Chloe Leng
Manan Raina
Reyna Uechi (alternate)
Power of the Pen competitions consist of three rounds of timed creative writing based on unique prompts. But, competitions are not their only focus. Their broader mission is to help young people find and develop a creative voice that is uniquely theirs. Power of the Pen seeks to empower teachers and challenge students to embrace the art of creative expression through writing as a life skill, not just a competitive exercise. About 7,500 students participate in their tournaments each year, but they provide in-class instructional materials that reach over 120,000 students in Ohio.