Pupils reveal write stuff

By Jordan Cohen

Middle school writers demonstrated their creativity through Power of the Pen.

HOWLAND — Naraya Subramanian, an eighth-grader from St. Charles School, Boardman, was anything but nervous Saturday as she awaited the start of Power of the Pen, the annual district creative writing tournament at Howland Middle School.

“I like to write about a lot of different things,” said the smiling 14-year-old. “I’m pretty good at writing and I’m confident in myself.” The latter comment drew laughter and nods of agreement from her classmates seated nearby.

Like Naraya, other pupils were not lacking in confidence.

“It means more to test yourself and see how you do against your age group,” said Cara Carano, an eighth-grader from Poland’s Holy Family School. “Actually, I’ve been writing for a long time.” Cara is 14.

The two were among more than 150 seventh- and eighth-grade pupils, mostly from Mahoning and Trumbull counties, competing in Power of the Pen, a writing skills competition conducted throughout Ohio since 1986. Cindy Christopher, Howland tournament coordinator, said 13 competing schools are represented by teams averaging 12 writers, six from each grade. During the daylong competition, pupils receive three separate topics called “prompts” and are given 40 minutes each to write an essay. Language arts teachers and writing coaches from other schools judge the entries.

Jacob Marapese, 13, from Struthers Middle School, was one of the many pupils not intimidated by the subject matter of the prompts.

“I can pretty much come up with anything if I put my mind to it,” the confident Jacob said.

The tournament’s regional coordinator agreed with Jacob. “I’m always surprised by the kids’ creativity and their responses to prompts,” said Mary Anderson, an Akron teacher. “I’d never think of some of the things they come up with.”

The topics are open ended and challenging. Anderson said one previous prompt asked writers to imagine about being alone in a cage while another inquired about the feeling one has when “you think you are the last person to find out anything.”

Power of the Pen’s emphasis on creative writing is a far cry from the everyday language of text messaging that has become so prevalent among pupils, according to Marilyn Wilson, writing coach and language arts teacher from Old Trail School in Bath, Ohio.

“They’re so used to abbreviating everything and they don’t go into detail, but you can identify those who have a love of writing and creativity, and then work on that,” said Wilson, whose school competed in Howland after having its district competition canceled due to the heavy snow. “It took us an hour and a half to get here, but it’s worth it.” Wilson’s seventh-grade team ended up taking first place.

Several of the pupils involved see Power of the Pen as a gateway to future writing goals. Naraya said she is thinking about becoming a journalist, perhaps a war correspondent. Jacob ponders a career in sports writing. Alexis Nasonti, 13, an eighth-grader from Champion Middle School, said she would like to be a teacher or a writer of children’s literature and was glad to have the opportunity to show her writing style. Her comments seemed to summarize the feelings of the fledgling authors.

“I don’t care what prompts I get,” Alexis said. “I’ll write about anything. I just like to write.”

The competition continues in March when 50 percent of the top finishers in Howland advance to the regional tournament at the Kent State University Stark campus. Power of the Pen concludes in May with the state finals at the College of Wooster.