East High writers earn rare honor

Five students at Lincoln East High School recently earned the highest rating possible in a national writing competition. It’s believed to be the most winning students ever from Nebraska, as well as the first time they were all from the same high school.

Juniors Enya Zhu, Caidell Davis, Joe Wright, Sarah Melton and Jennifer Wang received ratings of superior in the annual National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Achievement Awards in Writing.

The competition process began in the fall, when the five students - nominated and chosen by the East English Department - wrote papers based on a themed writing prompt offered by NCTE. Over the winter they worked with East English teacher Sarah Staples-Farmer to revise their papers before submitting their final versions by the Feb. 15 deadline. Winners were announced May 11.

---