Five students from Olympian High School in Chula Vista were recently recognized for their creative writing skills by the Greater San Diego Council of Teachers of English (GSDCTE). In an awards ceremony held March 15 at the San Diego County Office of Education, the GSDCTE (a local chapter of the California Association of Teachers of English (CATE)) recognized first, second, and third place county winners in five different grade-level categories of the 2012-2013 CATE student creative writing award contest.
Three Olympian High seniors—Karla Mendoza, Negin Shahbazi, and Rachel Emperador—respectively captured 1st place, 2nd place, and 3rd place honors in the grade 11-12 student category. Sophomore Jordan Brooks won 1st place in the grade 9-10 category, while freshman Jazmin Oliver received 3rd place honors.
During the ceremony, a total of 15 talented students from various elementary, middle and high schools located throughout the county not only received award certificates, but also treated the audience to a reading of their short stories and essays written in response to this year’s contest writing prompt that asked entrants to write about a favorite book, or write a continuing chapter of that book.
Janet Berend, an English teacher at La Costa Canyon High School, and the author of the young adult novel Vertical served as the guest speaker for the awards ceremony.
Winning entrants in each contest category included:
Grade 3-4 Category: 1st place: Celene Cen, Stone Ranch Elementary School; 2nd place: Sara Earney, Stone Ranch Elementary School; 3rd Place: Elle Marie Largent; Ada Harris Elementary
Grade 5-6 Category: Audrey Gillcrist, Live Oak Elementary School; 2nd Place: Jenna Kim, Stone Ranch Elementary School; 3rd Place: Samantha Wong, Stone Ranch Elementary School
Grade 7-8 Category: 1st place: Thomas Freedman, Carmel Valley Center Middle School; 2nd place; Violet Meyers, Valley Center Middle School; 3rd place; Emily Weber, Chet F. Harritt School
Grade 9-10 Category: 1st place: Jordan Brooks, Olympian High School; 2nd place; Tabitha Belshee; Orange Glen High School; 3rd place: Jazmin Oliver, Olympian High School
Grade 11-12 Category: 1st place: Karla Mendoza, Olympian High School; 2nd place; Negin Shahbazi; Olympian High School; 3rd place; Rachel Emperador, Olympian High School
Jeannine Ugalde, board president of the Greater San Diego Council of English Teachers remarked that “This annual contest provides a great opportunity for students to display their creativity, and to exercise their love of reading and writing. I congratulate all the English teachers in the county who encouraged their students to submit contest entries.”
Four students—Karla Mendoza, Jordan Brooks, Audrey Gillcrist and Celine Cen—were also recognized as winners of the state-wide CATE student writing competition. Their stories will appear in the professional quarterly publication, California English.