Severna ParkHigh School seniors Caroline Selle and Mary Huang bonded while writing.
“Good writers take risks and are believable,” Mary said.
“Reading Caroline?s writing helps me see both, because I admire the clear voice behind her words and the courage it takes to lend a part of yourself to your work.”
River Hill High School seniors Carolyn Rosinsky and Shela Suh also connected through their similar writing styles.
“We?re both very creative and expressive, unlike Hemingway where it?s terse,” Shela said.
These four teens were among 595 students worldwide and 16 in Maryland to win one of this year?s Achievement Awards in Writing, a contest presented by the National Council of Teachers of English to recognize excellent writing by high school juniors.
Creativity with objectivity
Caroline and Mary, both 17, met in high school in Anne Arundel.
“I guess it?s always nice to know you?re being recognized for your work, especially with something that can be seen as a hobby,” Mary said.
“I was also happy that Caroline won too, because we?re friends.”
The students are co-leaders of the school?s literary magazine, Impulse, which includes poetry, short stories and other types of creative writing, and both are editors of the school newspaper, The Talon.
“Both are able to combine creative writing with more objective writing and do it beautifully and without a hitch,” said English teacher Lea Trimble, who helped coordinate the contest?s application process.
Mary, who is reserved, was almost like an unsung hero who really infused passion into her writing, Trimble said.
Caroline said she learned a lot about the rhythms of language from Mary.
“Mary?s writing has taught me a lot about word choice ? she always picks words with the perfect connotations,” she said.
Both students attributed their success to Trimble and Brigid Harrington, who taught both students in their junior year.
“I don?t know how [Harrington] does it, but she always knows exactly what should be changed and exactly how to explain the whys of language to students,” Caroline said.
Evoking passion
Carolyn and Shela, both 17, met in their Howard school?s orchestra and quickly became good friends.
“We met freshman year when she was the first-chair violinist and I was the first-chair cellist,” Carolyn said.
Since then, the teens are part of a quartet that plays gigs around the community.
Linda Storey, the English instructional leader at River Hill High and winner of the Maryland Teacher of the Year award in 2001, praised them for their pieces.
“It just brings tears to your eyes,” Storey said of Carolyn?s writing.
“The beauty of the writing stems from the metaphorical descriptions.”
She gives tone and voice to the grandfather by using Yiddish and Hebrew expressions, while translating them at the bottom, Storey said.
“You can relate to the characters,” she added.
Storey said Shela?s submission was expertly and uniquely crafted.
“The piece mimics a piano recital,” Storey said. “There?s a lot of dialogue.”
Shela said Storey has helped her learn to analyze literature.
“You see something so beautiful, and it?s hard to capture in words,” Shela said.
“She helped me balance it into words.”
CAROLYN ROSINSKY
Her submission is a fictional story about a girl and her grandfather, told in a flashback to a time when both were much younger. The grandfather takes her to a creek near his house and shows her how to catch a few small fish for pets.
» Excerpt: “At first the fish darted just out of our reach, swimming toward me, only to dart away into the golden water. But as I stood there, still as a statue, only my curly hair blowing in the wind, they came toward me, hesitantly at first, feeling, smelling, touching, darting back,
around, through, toward, over, rolling, dipping, diving ? until hundreds of fish nipped at my skin, like tiny tickling fingers of fairies. I smiled involuntarily, grinning at the magical beauty. I glanced at my grandfather, whose hand was still in the water, and realized the same tiny darts were tickling his fingers. I smiled at him and he smiled back. We stood there, and when the flood of tiny fish finally melted back into the crick, I splashed back to shore and twirled around and around, grinning from ear to ear. ?Grandpapa! Grandpapa!? I shrieked.”
SHELA SUH
Her narrative submission is a story about a young pianist who is on her way to becoming a virtuoso. She told the story with flashbacks and symbolism.
» Excerpt: “Sarah stood up and took out the frail blossoms. She slowly crumpled the aged, papery blossoms, one by one, and she let the wind carry them, little fragments of fragrance and lost dreams, away.”
MARY HUANG
Her submission was a creative nonfiction essay about her grandfather?s experience as an invalid in the aftermath of the 1949 Chinese Revolution.
» Excerpt: “In summer, the lake is peppered with color. Lotus leaves, in shades of yellow and green, float in clusters, the pink and white flowers shooting out like crowns. A breeze blows, rustling the willows that offer shade to the tourists milling around, hastily snapping photos and stumbling after their tour groups. Activity engulfs the land, lost in human commotion. If you squint your eyes, crane your neck, squeeze your mind, and remove yourself from the chaos, you may finally absorb the tempo of Xihu. Hangzhou?s pristinesplendor surfaces from the depths, and this, you realize, marks the setting for one of China?s greatest romances.”
CAROLINE SELLE
Her narrative account was set in the bathroom and focused on how objects there were part of her identity.
» Excerpt: “I love this room because it lets me find myself. Ugly, fat, flawed ? it?s part of me. The sad part, the stupid part, the part that?s completely, utterly, one hundred percent insane ? that?s just as much me as the me that shows up to school. I love this room because it hides the angry self, the cruel self, and lets that malicious little bit turn inward. I love this room because it?s white and cold and uncaring, but the sunlight still shines through.”
At a glance
Baltimore region winners of the Achievement Awards in Writing:
» Andrew Sia, South River High School, Anne Arundel
» Victoria Hill, North County High School, Anne Arundel
» Loren Scolaro, Atholton High School, Howard
» Matthew Winder, Hammond High School, Howard
» MariaLisa Itzoe, Roland Park Country School, Baltimore City
The National Council of Teachers of English has more than 60,000 members worldwide, including teachers, English program supervisors in elementary, middle and secondary schools, and faculty in college and university English departments.
Source: National Council of Teachers of English
