Featured Student Writer: Nicole Winans

Nicole Winans is a freshman at East Allen University in Indiana.  Her essay, “The Secret Art Gallery”, was selected as a Top Ten Winner in our Fall 2012 national essay contest.

Math is one of Nicole’s favorite subjects.  She also enjoys sports, art, and drama.  In her free time, Nicole cooks, hula hoops, and writes.

“The Secret Art Gallery” is about the beauty of nature.  Nicole explains, “[My essay] was inspired by the wonderful world around me.  I feel like we so often take nature for granted.  However, when you go outside with open eyes, it opens up a whole new realm.  Our world is filled with natural, beautiful art.”

Click here to read Nicole’s essay. To learn more about our national writing contests, visit www.PoeticPower.com.

Featured Student Writer: Pauline Truong

“Courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. It’s knowing you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.” — Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Pauline Truong is currently a junior at Gabrielino High School. After reading and analyzing To Kill A Mockingbird, she was inspired to write about others and her insights and realizations. Though Pauline is often inspired by family members, teachers, and peers, there are times she explores her realizations in contrast with those of literary writers, such as Walt Whitman, Harper Lee, Arthur Miller, and many more. Motivated, dedicated, and compassionate, Pauline utilizes writing as a means to not only express ideas, but also open new perceptions. When asked to describe what writing means to her, she explains that “a word must have value in order for a picture to be worth a thousand words.”

Pauline wrote a nonfiction narrative, “A Live Bleeding Heart”, during her sophomore year at Gabrielino High School as a reflection of her grave experience watching a family member die of cancer. The experience opens Pauline to cherish family moments, view others’ perception, and understand the importance of writing.  “A Live Bleeding Heart” was selected as a Top Ten Winner in Creative Communication’s Spring 2012 national essay contest.  This means that Pauline’s essay was one of the ten best essays submitted in the United States and Canada in her grade division out of thousands of essays entered into the contest.

Pauline plans to pursue a science career that she is passionate for and desires to both help others and develop as an individual and leader.

To learn more about our national writing contests, visit www.PoeticPower.com.

 

Featured Student Writer: Nathan Cibula

“Learning to Read” is a tender essay about a brother helping his younger sister learn to read.  That brother, Nathan Cibula, was selected as a Top Ten Winner in our Fall 2012 national essay contest after his essay was picked as one of the ten best in the United States and Canada.

Nathan is 13 years old and attends Woodland Middle School in Illinois.  He lives with his mom, dad, and little sister.  Some of Nathan’s favorite hobbies include reading, writing, traveling, playing electronic games, building with Legos, and spending time with his family and friends.  He is also involved in Boy Scouts, and is currently at the rank of Life and working towards his Eagle.  Nathan participates in the Special Olympics swim and bowling teams.

When asked what inspired his winning essay, Nathan explained, “When writing I like to use real life experiences and/or sometimes get ideas for writing that are inspired by something I have read or heard.  Writing is a great way of expressing thoughts and feelings or a wonderful and creative way of making another reality to take your mind off of the everyday pressures of school.  Writing has helped me let people know a little of what it’s like to live with cerebral palsy.”

To read Nathan’s essay, click here. To learn more about our national writing contests, visit www.PoeticPower.com.

Featured Student Writer: Hari Narayanan

Hari is a fifth grader at The Fessenden School in Massachusetts.  His essay, “Sweet Victory?“, was selected as a Top Ten Winner in the Fall 2012 national essay contest held for students in grades 3-12 throughout the United States and Canada.

Squash, karate, reading, and Indian classical vocal music are a few of Hari’s hobbies.  He plays on Fessenden’s varsity squash team, which is the fifth best middle team school in the country.  Hari is Indian-American, and his parents were born and brought up in India.  Once a year, Hari and his family go to India to visit family.  Many of Hari’s family members are really into Indian classical music, and his great grandmother was a famous vocalist of her time.  On his annual trip to India, Hari usually sings the latest song that he has learned in the United States for his family there.  Additionally, Hari is currently training very intensely in karate, as he is gearing up for his black belt test.  This test can last up to ten hours.

When asked what inspired his winning essay, Hari responded, “The reason I wrote this essay was because I saw a close friend in a new light, and in a situtation where his response made me think highly of him.”  You can read Hari’s essay here.

To learn more about our national writing contests, please visit www.PoeticPower.com.

Featured Teacher: Melissa LaBair

Melissa LaBair is a teacher at Michigan Lutheran Seminary in Saginaw, Michigan.  Her student, Lorissa Wascher, was selected as a Top Ten Winner in the Fall 2012 essay contest for her essay, “Beauty“.  This award means that her student was selected out of thousands of entries  submitted as one of the ten best in the United States and Canada.  We asked Melissa to share with our readers what has helped her to have success in the classroom and inspire her student writers.

“I cannot say that it is solely through my efforts as a teacher that one of my students was chosen for the Top Ten.” Melissa tells Creative Communication. “My role as a teacher is to give positive feedback and constructive criticism when needed.” Melissa goes on to explain that when students begin to write they are very scripted, and as they develop their creative side they start to develop a personality to their writing.  “I like to encourage them to really take ownership for what they write and encourage them to be proud of it.

“I really like seeing the competitive nature of the students come out when they enter a contest such as yours. They all put on a ruse like they don’t care if they are selected to be published, but they cannot deny the joy and sense of accomplishment they get if they are selected. I will continue to encourage and develop their skill set and the students year after year will continue to impress me.”

In addition to having a Top Ten Winner, Melissa’s teaching efforts have helped to put Michigan Lutheran Seminary as the #1 school in Michigan with the most essays accepted for publication, and #8 in the nation for the most essays accepted into the Fall 2012 essay contest (view rankings).

To learn more about our national writing contests, visit www.PoeticPower.com.

 

Featured Student Writer: Darien Gillespie

Darien is a fifth-grader at LaSalle Intermediate Academy in Indiana.  His essay, “Stairs of Life“, was selected as one of the ten best essays submitted into the Fall 2012 contest from the United States and Canada.

Darien enjoys math, writing, and computer programming.  Darien and his friend have been working for a year on writing a story about prehistoric cats and sabertooth cats (Darien has been a lover of animals since he was about two years old).  Additionally, Darien has been working with computers for a few months, and now uses basic programs to make small games and other small programs using codes.  He is currently working on making a website using HTML.

“Stairs of Life” was inspired by an assignment in class to write stories based on a picture with brightly-colored autumn leaves and a mossy staircase. “I thought about this picture, my previous nature experiences, and what I know about the behavior of animals.” Darien explained, “I used the rising staircase to represent the continuous pattern of the year. I put all this information into a mental picture of the change from summer to fall. If it hadn’t been for my Language Arts teacher and my previous experiences in nature, I wouldn’t have been able to write this award-winning essay.”

Darien plans to participate in more Creative Communication competitions in the future. He hopes to work more on writing and try to write some poems, too. “Even though I wrote an essay this time, it had a ‘flow’ that made it seem like a poem. My slightly poetic piece has inspired me to continue my writing career.”

To learn more about out national writing contests, visit www.PoeticPower.com.

Featured Student Writer: Sean M.

“The simplicity of childhood is extinct; its callow beauty has been lost. I remember when I was a child; all I did was play basketball outside and run around with my friends. I remember watching movies with my family on the weekends,  and caring about nothing more than spending time with the people I loved. I remember being taught that love is the most important thing in the world,  and people are to be treated with respect. Every day,  I miss the simplicity and joy of my childhood and how easy things were…” View more

Sean’s essay, “The Digital Age“, was selected as a Top Ten Winner in our Fall 2012 national essay contest.  Currently a junior at Parkersburg High School in West Virginia, Sean has always loved reading and writing.

“The Digital Age” was inspired from Sean’s observation of people in his generation becoming infatuated with today’s technology and social norms.  “I see young people becoming obsessed with iPhones, iPads, etc., as well as video game systems, television, and computers.” Sean explains, “As well, children are being granted the opportunity to experiment with makeup at a younger and younger age. I can’t help but notice how self-conscious these children become. Their appearance, including their makeup, clothes, and weight, become the epicenter of their attention and thought. I think, personally, it’s sad the lengths at which people in my generation go to become totally disconnected from society and life’s natural pleasures through the use of said technology and makeup; and that’s what I really wanted to highlight in my essay.”

After graduating high school, Sean plans to go to college and graduate from veterinary medical school.

To learn more about our national writing contests, visit www.PoeticPower.com.

Featured Student Writer: Meghan Jusczak

A senior at Central Bucks High School-East in Pennsylvania, Meghan Jusczak spends a lot of time writing. Whether it’s for her creative blog, various literary magazines, or as the columnist for reality, a teen section that appears every Thursday in several newspapers in her area, Meghan is constantly engaging in the writing process.  She is also very involved with the theater group at her school, where they put on two or three productions each year.

Meghan’s poem, “Girl Passing Through“, was selected as a Top Ten Winner in our Summer 2012 national poetry contest.  “I was inspired to write ‘Girl Passing Through’ after watching the movie My Week with Marilyn and thinking about how Marilyn Monroe, this famous female symbol, was extremely lonely and dependent on the romantic relationships in her life.” Meghan continues, “The whole poem stemmed out of this image I had in my head of her reapplying her lipstick, and then I began to think about my very different approach to relationships and life in general and went from there.”

After graduating from high school, Meghan intends to go to college where she will study English and Journalism. She also plans to continue writing in some form, hopefully novels.

To learn more about our national writing contests, visit www.PoeticPower.com.

Featured Student Writer: Maggie Li

“The Silent Lullaby” was selected as a Top Ten Winner in the Summer 2012 national poetry contest.  Its author, Maggie Li, attends Nicholas Catholic College in Canada.  Maggie’s family immigrated to Canada when she was just four years old.

Maggie’s winning poem was inspired by a message from one of her favorite teachers: “It doesn’t matter ‘who’ you are; whether you’re an Olympic medallist, or a millionaire, if you haven’t done anything to make the lives of others around you better, you haven’t accomplished anything at all.”

Maggie reflected upon this message, and was astonished at the tempo with which time passed by.  “Had I any time to make a positive impact on the people around me?” Maggie pondered. “That’s when I realized that in the midst of such chaos and the breathtaking speed of life, we do have barometers; priceless things that we take for granted, but serve to be a silent reminder of the renewal of mercy and the presence of ‘another chance’…such things being most obviously, to me, sunrise and sunset.”

Maggie’s favorite subject in school is English, along with math, French, and science.  Maggie plans to continue to write poetry and share it with the world.  She is also working on a collection of short stories, which she is quite fond of.  Maggie’s future career plans include becoming a pediatrician, studying medical law, and even attempting to be the next Sherlock Holmes.

“Thank you SO much for giving me the privledge of being published in your anthology, and for enjoying my poem to the extent that it was chosen as a Top Ten. You have truly motivated me, and I will never forget this milestone in my life!” — Maggie Li

To learn more about our national writing contests, visit www.PoeticPower.com.

Featured Student Writer: Alex Van

                                         Memories
Through the crowd of comfortably unfamiliar faces, I see you.
It’s been years and I don’t know how to breach the time
that separates us now.
Despite the tension binding the breeze, the night refuses to pause.
In the silence, we both test the waters.
Are you the same? Am I?…

Alex Van is a 16-year-old student and attended Cam Jr/Sr High School in Washington when she wrote her winning poem, “Memories“.

“I’ve had my face hidden in a book for as long as I can remember, and always wanted to be a writer someday.” Alex explains, “I wrote ‘Memories’ when I was 15, about my childhood best friend who I ran into one late night.  Neither of us were brave enough to say a single word the entire night, and I couldn’t figure out what to do.  ‘Memories’ was the path of my thoughts, as I realized that no matter what the years apart had brought, he was still the same boy I knew.”

Alex is currently attending Clark College and is planning to major in English and become a publishing editor.  Her inspiration for writing mainly comes from her own experiences, her loved ones, or a recent dream. In her free time, Alex enjoys watching reruns of Friends, rock wall climbing, and listening to music.

To learn more about our national writing contests, visit http://www.PoeticPower.com.