Nine English III AP juniors were recognized by the second annual New York Times Learning Network Review contest. Morgan Hickman was named one of the 10 winners, Emma Miller and Meg Schwartz were selected as two of the 24 runners-up and Sydney Crawford, Ally Crumb, Catherine Dehaemers, Lauren Ismert, Moriana Jaco and Paige Ritter were acknowledged as six of the 28 honorable mentions. These juniors were selected from over 1,250 13 to 19 year olds all across the country who submitted entries.  

As one of the top 10 winners, Hickman’s review “Lolita: Beauty Versus Crime” is published on The New York Times Learning Network. Only the top 10 reviews were published, but all of the other winner’s names were listed on the website as well.  

“When Mrs. Engel announced the winners I was pretty surprised I was in the top 10,” Hickman said. “It’s kind of amazing to think I was published by the New York Times; it was a really great opportunity.”

The contest was introduced to the juniors as an assignment by English teacher Casey Engel who found this contest and was attracted to the openness and creativity that it encouraged students to engage in.

“The contest was a different and refreshing assignment,” Engel said. “I hoped that it would be something that my students found genuinely interesting and I also liked how it was purely student run, so everyone could find something that interested them.”

The only parameters of the contest given by the New York Times were to write a review that fits into a category of creative expression that they cover in their own newspaper. However the contest did ask students to choose to review something that was new to them. Part of their reasoning for creating this contest was to give students the opportunity to stretch their cultural imagination, according to the review contest rules.

“I wrote about a painting at the Nelson called ‘The Dori,’” Dehaemers said. “I chose to review this because I am in art class right now and am interested in learning more about it and observing other people’s work.”  

This was the first year that Engel’s classes participated in the contest and it was deemed a huge success by Engel.

“The fact that nine students placed reminds me that sometimes what we consider ordinary in our Sion bubble is other people’s extraordinary,” Engel said. “The whole experience and its outcome was really powerful and validating.”