Over break, eight students received the news that they had won a Gold Key, Silver Key, or Honorable Mention for a piece that they submitted to the California Scholastic Writing and Arts Competition.
English teacher Dr. Pauline Paskali announced the results today during school meeting.
“It was spectacular; I love to see all these Harker names,” Dr. Paskali said. “We have a hugely talented student body, and we hear so much about the successes in math and science, it’s just nice to see how talented our students are across the board.”
In total, the Upper School won two Gold Key, four Silver Key, and four Honorable Mentions awards this year. Senior Emily Wang received a Gold Key award for her personal memoir “Missed Connections And The Secret Of Mattering,” and Stephanie Chen won the same award for her short story “Sundial.”
“I was really surprised and happy,” Emily said. “It was incredible to receive that level of recognition for something I wrote. I think like one of the issues with creative writing is that you never really know how to judge your own work objectively so to hear that someone else read something that I wrote and liked it was just the ultimate compliment.”
This year is Emily’s fourth time submitting her work to the competition. Over the years, she has won various awards including Honorable Mentions at the Regional Level and a National Gold Key.
For the other Gold Key winner, Stephanie, writing is also a hobby. Unlike Emily, this year is only her second time participating in the competition.
“I think when I wrote [my piece], there was the possibility in my head like if it turns out okay, I would submit it,” Stephanie said. “I don’t think I was writing specifically for the competition. I like to write.”
Dr. Paskali believes that contests like the California Scholastic Arts and Writing Competition are beneficial for students who are starting creative writing because it gives them both a deadline to aim towards and sometimes also a topic to use as a starting point.
Other winners include Albert Chu (11), Kacey Fang (10), and Leo Yu (10) who won Silver Key awards, and Lori Berenberg (12), Vineet Kosaraju (9), and Cindy Liu (10) who received Honorable Mentions.