Hicksville Superintendent of Schools Marianne Litzman, students Katelyn Suarez and Marion Rai, Hicksville Supervisor of English, Reading and Libraries Brendan McGowan, English teacher Eva Shtein, student Beau Flay and Hicksville
Board of Education President Brenda Judson.
Photo courtesy of Hicksville Public Schools
Three students from Hicksville High School were recognized at a Board of Education meeting last month for their writing accolades. The students earned the awards from the Scholastic Art & Writing through the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers competition.
Eva Shtein, creative writing teacher at the high school, said that the Scholastic Art & Writing is an annual competition that offers students a chance to display their writing and poetry prowess.
“The school district has been partnering with this organization for several years, as a way for students to showcase their creative and artistic abilities,” said Shtein.
The three students who won the awards were seniors Marion Rai, Katelyn Suarez and Beau Flay. Rai was the recipient of two Gold Key awards, the highest honor bestowed by the organization, for two of her poetry submissions.
Rai, who immigrated to the United States from Nepal in her freshman year, said that her poems reflected her experiences in becoming acclimated to her new surroundings.
“I submitted two poems and one memoir on my feelings of being detached and alone when I arrived here in my freshman year,” said Rai. “I’m very close to my mom, who gives me feelings of warmth as a mother-figure, and I contrasted that with the coldness I felt coming to a new country and entering a new school.”
Rai’s submissions were entitled, ‘An Elegy to my Mother,’ ‘l am my Mother’s Daughter,’ and ‘The Art of Blending In.’
Suarez was given a Silver Key award, for a short story she submitted about a recent motorcycle accident she was involved in. The short story was entitled, ‘Smile.’
“Over the summer my boyfriend and I were involved in a motorcycle accident in the Dominican Republic, where we ended up being chased by a couple of guys,” said Suarez. “My story is a fictional take on a real-life event, where I exaggerated on what happened to us in the end.”
Flay said her story is about a transgender person at a Sweet 16 party, and how he tries to be accepted by his mother.
“The story kind of touches on my own personal relationship with my mom and how I don’t feel connected with her,” said Flay. “The boy in the story is trying to connect with his mom, but she still only wants to sees him as her daughter.”
Flay garnered an Honorable Mention by the organization for her submission.
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