Birchwood Power of the Pen Team Places Second in Ohio
Birchwood School of Hawken’s 2023 Power of the Pen (POP) team wrote its way to rewards at the recent State of Ohio tournament, returning with a second-place overall finish as well as a handful more accolades earned by its seventh- and eighth-grade scribes.
Other Birchwood student winners are:
• Individual Award Joshua Gordon, 8th grade 11th Place
• State Platinum Pen Awards
Reeve Vincent, 7th grade, for “War and Blood”
Joshua Gordon, 8th grade, for “Why?” and “So Much More”
* Both are eligible for publication in Power of the Pen’s annual Book of Winners, determined from regional Best of Round.
Birchwood’s student team is coached by language arts specialists Lorraine Tzeng, Jennifer Seward, and Allison Noga.
The state tournament was held at Ashland University, in Ashland, on Thursday and Friday, May 18-19. The highlight of the POP season, the competition features a day and a half of activities for qualifying young writers from throughout Ohio, usually about the top 20% of students from the various regional events.
In the team competition, which represents each school’s combined achievements at regional and state levels, Birchwood finished second overall. Birchwood qualified five students (3 eighth and two seventh graders) for the state competition, four of whom qualified for the final round in the tournament.
Students from approximately 300 schools across Ohio compete in the annual POP competition. In addition to individual and team awards from the writing rounds, the state tournament provides an opportunity to honor young authors who have excelled throughout their time with Power of the Pen.
