CLINTON COUNTY — Students from Blanchester, Clinton-Massie and Lebanon recently took advantage of an opportunity to explore their skills when they participated in the creative writing exhibition competition hosted by Blanchester Middle School.
Blanchester Language Arts teacher and Power of the Pen coach Stephanie Cummings coordinated the event as a way to showcase and preview the upcoming Power of the Pen competition season.
Educators Jill Binau, Curt Bradshaw, Bob Erwin, Trish Hiners, Carmen Hurst, Amanda Kay, Joyce Kelly, Amy Kreider, Michele Kirkendall, Melissa Rich and Amy Schaljo were also on hand to help facilitate the writing exhibition.
With the writing season scheduled to kick off in early January, the preseason exhibition served to prepare students for the official Power of the Pen writing competitions.
Sponsored by the Southern Ohio Educational Service Center (SOESC) Gifted Services Program, Power of the Pen students from Blanchester, Clinton-Massie, and East Clinton Middle Schools have proven to be among the area’s strongest writers.
In addition to competing in local writing competitions, Power of the Pen writers are also focused on the District Tournament scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 11 at Mariemont Junior High School, the Regional Tournament scheduled for Saturday, March 18th at Wyoming Middle School, and the State Power of the Pen Tournament scheduled for May 25-26 at the College of Wooster.
According to Curt Bradshaw, Director of Gifted Services with the SOESC, each of the Power of the Pen programs within our schools work hard to help the students grow as young writers, as students fine tune their writing styles and voices.
“I am proud of the hard work of each writer throughout the year and greatly appreciate the time and energy put forth by the coaches and volunteers in each school to further develop their programs,” said Bradshaw.
A total of 48 writers from Blanchester and Clinton-Massie middle schools and Lebanon Junior High School participated in the Blanchester Exhibition Competition.
Earning honors in the Seventh Grade Division from Blanchester were Makenna Maddix, who finished 4th; Rebekah Davenport and Regan Grogg, who tied for 3rd; Emmy Hodge, who was named Seventh Grade Best of Round #2 and tied for 1st; and Kaylie Paugh, who was named Seventh Grade Best of Round #1 and also tied for 1st.
Representing Clinton-Massie were Josephine Majdoch, who finished 8th, Vanessa Asher 7th, and Kaden Kimple and Christy Tidwell, who tied for 2nd.
Earning honors in the Eighth Grade Division from Clinton-Massie were Maddie Brausch, who finished 7th, Mikayla Craycraft 5th, Abby Schneider 4th, Kate Gordon 3rd, Barek Bennett 2nd, and Abby George 1st in addition to Eighth Grade Best of Round 1 & 2.
Earning honors in the Eighth Grade Division from Lebanon were Sean Osborne, who finished 8th, and Owen Johnson, who finished 6th.
Additional students representing Blanchester Middle School included Ricky Blakely, Kylie Campbell, Jillian Duvall, Megan Ellis, Bella Jones, Annie Trovillo and Teresa Zhang.
Additional students representing Clinton-Massie Middle School included Vanessa Asher, Barek Bennett, Drake Bennett, Markey Brothers, Regan Cole, Ally Coy, Luke Goodwin, Hailey Hubbard, Lucas Hughes, Marty Kreider, Isabel Majdoch, Evan McCollister, Makenzie Miller, Abby Schneider, Connor Stulz, Will Tidwell and Layla Vineyard.
Participating students from Lebanon Junior High School included Jenna Becker, Gretchen Gasper, Kate Gordon, Sarah Hutchinson, Caitlin Kirkpatrick, Brooke Lewis, Lauren Klein, Olivia Setser and Hannah Wolfenbarger.
Information for this article was provided by Diana Miller, who coordinates communications for several area schools.
