Last fall, English students from all grade levels were encouraged to enter one or more National Scholastic Writing contest. Through various entry categories, students are able to earn not only special recognition and awards for their submissions, they are also eligible for several scholarships.

Klein Oak submitted over 100 entries and 65 were awarded national awards. Fifteen students were honored with 16 top rankings, which are known as Gold Keys. Rachel Kerr received two golds for her entries in the Science Fiction/Fantasy and Poetry categories.

Other writing categories include Short Stories, Journalism, Personal Essays, Critical Essays, and Flash Fiction. More lengthy pieces included Novel Writing and Portfolios.

A special award and recognition ceremony was held to honor all of the winners for their outstanding commitment to writing on Feb. 11 in the library.

Gold Key winners are Theiija Balasubramanian, Jayasurya Dileep, Rodrigo Gandara, Kamran Gomez, Kenna Hendry, Rachel Kerr, Gunjung Kim, Nicole Moran, Kailyn Nonhof, Reem Numan, Joel Reyes, Jaelyn Terrell, Alex Wilson, Paige Wilson, and Rebecca Wilson.

Receiving second place rankings, or Silver Keys, are Zainab Ansari, Amanda Bachelder, Mary-Elizabeth Ballard, Mirella Cedillo, Elijah Colon, Noah Cruz, Ari Devereaux, Hannah Devereaux, Justin Dunn, Avery Fuhr, Kamran Gomez, Aalie Hebert, Noor Iqbal, Adalina Jaramillo, Rachel Kerr, Anisah Khan, Sydney Martin, AJ Roberts, Braydin Sims, Madison Todd, Joshua VanAlstyne, Alex Wilson, and Sean Zamora.

And, earning outstanding merit for their entries with Honorable Mention: Natalia Bond, Coressa Bosier, Hector Chang Silva, Emily DeBord, Emma Delaplane, Jayasurya Dileep, Melena Garcia, Joseph Greer, Clara Grey, Dorian Jimenez, Elizabeth McCormick, Emily Peterson, Fatima Rojas, Raquel Santiago, Jaelyn Terrell, Veena Vinod, William Warren, Alex Wilson, and Rebecca Wilson.