Isabel Lawrence
News Editor
Students are often motivated to write in order to complete assignments in class. However, the Connecticut Writing Project is a contest which aims to inspire students to pick up the pencil outside of school and submit their writing to be judged and available for awards. This year, student authors who received recognition include freshman Kenneth Herzog and sophomore Casey Manzella who won in the freshman and sophomore prose categories, respectively. Honorable mentions were also received by seniors Eileen Dinnie, Kaitlin Ostling, and Wheatley Raabe.
Many students do not write outside the classroom, and previously never would have imagined entering a competition unless otherwise encouraged by their teachers. For senior Eileen Dinnie, who won an honorable mention in senior prose, this was the case. “Truthfully, entering a writing competition wouldn’t have even crossed my mind if Ms. Magnan didn’t push me to do it after reading my piece,” she said. “Since the submission was on a whim, I really wasn’t expecting to do well at all, but I’m glad they enjoyed it.”
Sophomore winner Casey Manzella had similarly not considered entering, and expected nothing in terms of results.“Since I submitted so last minute, it was very rushed,” she said. “I never thought it would win anything, it was kind of an experiment. When it won I was shocked and surprised, but I was happy because I’d worked really hard on it.”
Although the process of submitting the pieces was quick, the writing process itself was more in depth. Winner Kenneth Herzog experienced the process firsthand. “The writing process was both an easy and hard one,” he said. “I can still remember every second of my father’s funeral, all the emotions I felt, so it wasn’t hard putting all the details of the funeral into words. However, the process was still an emotional one, remembering moments of my father that I miss a lot today,” he said.
The writing process may have been challenging emotionally, but Kenneth recognized its importance in providing clarity for his piece “A great part of writing is what you can find out about yourself after writing a piece,” he said. “When I was writing about moments in my life, I also had to reflect on those moments, go back and make sense of what I was thinking during that moment. By the end of the piece I had realized things about the relationship between my father and myself that I hadn’t before.”
Jessica Cullen, Kenneth’s English teacher, felt that because of the realizations and
techniques Kenneth used, his work needed to be shared with others. “The fact that [Kenneth] was able to look at his relationship with his father from such a mature standpoint, to be so honest about the fact that he recognized his father had both strengths and weaknesses, the way he structured the piece in a really complex way and ended on a symbolic moment, I just thought was phenomenally done,” Ms. Cullen said. “And I felt that he needed that, he deserved that recognition.”
Senior Wheatley Raabe, who won an honorable mention for senior poetry, also understands the value the writing process can have in daily life as well as in the classroom. “Keep a notebook on you and just take the time, only 15 minutes, to just write whatever’s on your mind,” she said. “It could be an annoying conversation you hear between two freshman or a rant that you have about something that’s bothering you. Just write something for 15 minutes and it helps so much. On a side note, taking creative writing helped my writing abilities so much.”
Fellow honorable mention recipient for senior prose, Kaitlin Ostling, sees writing as helpful as well as fun. “I enjoy the freedom that writing gives you,” she said. “Any time your are conflicted or just have thoughts you need to get out writing is a way to relax and move on. Plus, writing is a great past-time!”
Casey views submitting pieces to writing competitions as a way to receive feedback for your work. “I definitely want to submit to more writing competitions because obviously I won’t win every single one, but I think it’s a good opportunity because if you win, it’s great to put on your college application,” she said. “It’s good to be recognized in something, especially if you enjoy it. Usually when you write something, it only pays off when you get an A or a B, but when you win an award it’s fulfilling.”
