Katia Hardesty, Erin Aslami and Jacqueline Yang.
PARAMUS, N.J. – From more than 250 submissions of high school juniors and seniors, six Bergen County students claimed first-place honors in the 40th annual Bergen County High School Writing Contest sponsored by the Bergen Community College English department. The contest, co-directed by Bergen professors Geoffrey Sadock, Ph.D., and Peter Helff, featured six categories of submissions – scholarly essay, poetry, personal essay, short story, drama and recent American – judged by Bergen faculty. The work of 18 finalists became part of the College’s literary journal, “Pegasus,” published annually in June. The first place winners are, from left:
*Katia Hardesty, of Saddle River, Northern Highlands Regional High School: “A Thing of the Past” (Recent American);
*Erin Aslami, of Tenafly, Tenafly High School: “Fixating Fortitudo and Seeking Sapientia” (Scholarly Essay); and
*Jacqueline Yang, of Ho-Ho-Kus, Northern Highlands Regional High School: “Satisfaction for the Soul” (Poetry).
Students (not pictured) who also placed first are: Maya Amitai, of Tenafly, personal essay; Jessica Zhu, of Montvale, short story; and Arthur Dennis, of River Vale, drama.
The teen writers will participate in a public reading of their work at the Oradell Free Public Library Wednesday, June 29 at 7 p.m.
In recognition of their efforts, students received copies of the school’s literary journal and Amazon gift cards.
Open to high school juniors and seniors, the annual countywide literary contest started accepting writing submissions in January. Submissions were judged based on effective persuasion, clarity, reasoning, concept, style and thematic development.
Based in Paramus, Bergen Community College (www.bergen.edu), a public two-year coeducational college, enrolls 15,000 students at locations in Paramus, the Philip Ciarco Jr. Learning Center in Hackensack and Bergen Community College at the Meadowlands in Lyndhurst. The College offers associate degree, certificate and continuing education programs in a variety of fields. More students graduate from Bergen than any other community college in the state.
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