Congratulations to the following students whose essays have been accepted for publication by Creative Communication:  Sam Anthony for “Paranoid Perhaps?,” Samuel Chang for “At Korea,” Molly Harnish for “Fun at the Farm,” Nathania Hofstetter for “Sensations of the Sea,” Jacqui Hofstetter for “My First Invention,” Noelle Ludlum for “My Nantucket,” Samantha Ludlum for “Left Behind,” Nathan Master for “Crazy Cousins,” David Matej for “Trip to Slovakia,” Rachel Meell for “Amazing Arizona,” Stephanie Meell for “Cast Down,” David Null for “Moms vs. Grandmoms,” Sarah Null for “Down and Out in Irish Jigs,” Harry Robinson for “Parking Problems,” Ace Robinson for “The Amazing Tricks of Twenty-Six,” Josiah Wells for “Journey to Germany,” Molly Wells for “Deutschland,” and David Yang for “iStall.”

Congratulations to students Lena Harnish (”Shell the Corn, Grind the Wheat”) and Laura Null (”History Class”) for receiving special certificates for their essays.  Apparently they were too young for the essay contest, but the judges “found Lena and Laura’s essays to be well-written and would have accepted them if they had fallen within contest rules.”

Finally, TAA received Creative Communication’s Writing Achievement Award, given to those schools whose students’ entries to the essay contest were of exceptionally high merit.  This award is the result of much hard work in revising copies and getting them ready to submit for publication.  Though challenging, this process helps the student develop professional writing skills that will be invaluable for college and career.

Congratulations to our students whose works were selected for publication in this year’s Creative Communication Celebrating What Is Important to Me essay contest: Sam Anthony; Lukas, Danny, and Josh Carroll; Maggie and Molly Harnish; Jacqui and Nathania Hofstetter; Samantha and Noelle Ludlum; Tad and Baret Lyon; Nathan Master; David Matej; Rachel Meell and Stephanie Meell; Eleanor and Samuel Miller; Laura, Sarah, and David Null; Ace Robinson; and Elena Sutton.  Well done!

In addition:

• Students in grades K-12 are busy working on their poetry for the upcoming Creative Communications poetry contest.
• Grades 5-8 are writing for the Daughters of the American Revolution essay contest, on the topic “The Ideals of the Gettysburg Address.”
• Noelle Ludlum will represent TAA in the 27th annual essay contest, sponsored by Penn State University.

Thanks to Dr. Traver, Mrs. Null, and Mrs. Chagan for all of their hard work helping our students find their muse!

The American Academy recommends the following events in the greater Philadelphia area:

• From the Wynnewood Institute: Tuesday, 11/7, at Wyndham Hall, Bryn Mawr College, Dr. David Legates, Climatologist, will speak on “The Scientific Perspective on Global Warming.” Dr. Legates is Joint Associate Professor in Physical Ocean Science and Engineering at the University of Delaware College of Marine and Earth Studies.
• Pastor, and prolific author Douglas Wilson of Christ Church, Moscow, ID will debate Christopher Hitchens, outspoken atheist and NY Times bestselling author of God is Not Great.  The topic will be Apologetics in Action: Aesthetics and the Existence of God - Atheism vs. Christianity.  We advise that you arrive early for this lecture, which starts at 6:30 PM on Thursday October 30th at Westminster Theological Seminary. For more information, please see Westminster’s web site.
• Also on Thursday October 30th, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute will present a lecture by Dr. Charles Taylor entitled “A Secular Age.”  This event will begin at 5:30pm at the Greenville Country Club in Wilmington, DE.  Dr. Taylor is the author of a book of the same title, named best book of 2007 by Publishers’ Weekly.  Click here for more details.

Congratulations to David Matej, who won first place in the second grade category for his poem “Spring Baseball and Winter Basketball,” and to his sister Barbara Matejova, who won second place in the twelfth grade category for her poem “Not Yet Right: A Villanelle,” in the Delaware County Young Poets competition, sponsored by the Delaware County Library System.  They have been invited to read their poetry aloud at the awards ceremony.

Congratulations to Stephanie Meell (”My Sledding Hill”) and David Null (”The Slingshot Sled”), whose poems have been published on Cricket Magazine’s web site at http://www.cricketmag.com/activity_display.asp?id=2019

Congratulations to Sam Anthony, whose short story “The Accidental Invalid” won first place in the writing competition sponsored by the Delaware Valley College English department.  Sam’s story will be published in Delaware Valley’s literary magazine The Gleaner.

Congratulations to the following students, whose poems received “Top Ten” recognition from Creative Communication:

• Grades K-3:  Maggie Harnish (“A Horse Named Pete”) and Sarah Null (“Sewing with my Mom”)  
• Grades 6-12:  Patrick Devine (“Right Down Santa Claus Lane”) and Ace Robinson (“Dad Travel”)

Each of these students will receive a savings bond and a complimentary copy of the book.

We think that this is a Creative Communication record, that is to have four of the “Top Ten” poems authored by students from the same school, and they were competing with students throughout the nation.  Hearty congratulations to the students for all their hard work and to Dr. Traver for getting them to do it!  This is a huge honor for our school and wonderful national recognition for our language arts/writing program.

Congratulations to the following students who won “Gold Key” in the prestigious Scholastic Art and Writing Awards:  Sam Anthony (Humor “The Accidental Invalid”), Josh Carroll (Humor “Star Heck”), Patrick Devine (Humor, 3 poems, “Right Down Santa Claus Lane,” “How the Brinch Stole Easter,” and “The Night of the Living Dad”), Noelle Ludlum (Personal Essay “Many Roads Diverge in a Yellow Wood”), and Samuel Miller (Humor “A Day in the Life of Oliver Kendal Colmes”).  Patrick and Sam Miller were also offered scholarships for a summer writing program through the Young Scholars Program, and all TAA entries have been sent on to the national level.  Bravo!  Out of more than 100,000 works submitted to the 76 regional programs throughout the country, 30,000 received recognition, and 10,000 have been submitted to the national level.   From this number, 400 will win either a Gold or Silver Medal in the National Awards, across all writing categories (including those above, plus “Short short story,” “Poetry,” “Drama,” etc.  This is a huge honor for Dr. Traver and our school.

Congratulations to Barbara Matejova, whose story “The Hike” was chosen by the ETS ( Educational Testing service) to be considered for use as an SAT passage.  “The Hike” was written when Barbara was in 9th grade and won top honors in the nationwide writing contest, “Take it from the Top,” sponsored by Weekly Reader’s Writing Magazine.  We can now say that we not only do well on the SAT tests, but we are now helping to write the tests! 

TAA fifth grader David Null’s Downingtown East Middle School hockey team won the championship for the middle school league.  They won 4 to 2 against Avon Grove for the championship game on March 12.  It was a tie game 2-2 and David scored a goal to make it 3 to 2.  He scored the goal late in the third period so the Downingtown team was able to keep Avon Grove from scoring again.  Avon Grove even pulled their goalie to see if they could score with another player on the ice, only to have Downingtown score on their empty net.  Congratulations, David!