The first place 7th graders from Harding plus
adivser Ruth Pangrace












The Harding 8th Grade first-place team









   
The second-place Garfield 7th Grade team


The Garfield 8th Grade team

Both Harding and Garfield Middle Schools performed exceptionally at the District Power of the Pen Writing Competition held on January 23 at St. Joseph Academy. Out of 23 schools that participated, the Garfield 7^th grade writers placed 2nd in team standings, while Harding’s writers took 1^st place in both the 7^th and 8^th grade team standings! There were outstanding individual performances including a first place overall by Harding 8th grader Sarah Neff.

Out of approximately 125 writers per grade level, Harding and Garfield placed many writers in the top fifteen:

 Grade 7:

2^nd place:        Jon Poilpre               Garfield

3^rd place:         Maggie Pizzo             Harding

4^th place:         Kathryn Urban           Harding

10^th place:       Sara Shyte                 Garfield

12^th place:       Julia Houk                 Garfield

 

Grade 8:

1^st place:         Sarah Neff                  Harding

8^th place:         Irina Vatamanu         Harding

11^th place:       Nora Varcho              Harding

13^th place:       Zach Sanderson       Garfield

15^th place:       Madison Burns          Harding

 

In addition, Maggie Pizzo and Sarah Neff, both of Harding, won “Best of Round” awards.

 

Although on average 50% of writers qualify for the Regional Tournament, Lakewood’s teams qualified 83%!  (Garfield 9/12; Harding 11/12, including their entire 8^th grade team!) The regionals will take place March 27 in Bedford.

 

All of Lakewood’s Power of the Pen writers, whether or not they qualified for the regional tournament, have worked particularly hard to push their writing to new levels, and should thus be proud to among the best of Lakewood’s middle school writers.  Team participants follow (includes alternates; regional qualifiers are asterisked):

 

Ann Elaban *

Renee Klann *

Ryan Mitchell

Maggie Pizzo *

Laurel Roelle

Sarah Smith *

Kathryn Urban *

 

Madison Burns *

Georgia Cole *

Jameson Foran *

Colin Levis

Sarah Neff *

Nora Varcho *

Irina Vatamanu *

 

Julia Houk *

Jon Poilpre *

Sam Rothacker

Abby Shuga *

Sara Shyte *

Parker Smith

Carleigh Spence

 

Grace Bader *

Charlotte Link

Grace Hurley *

Lisa Peng *

Kendall King *

Zach Sanderson *

 

Mrs. Mary Anne Kinzley

Mrs. Ruth Pangrace

Mrs. Laurie Pollner

 

Mrs. Martha Exoo

Mr. Dan Smith

Mrs. Karen Stohr