King Philip Students Win Letters About Literature Contest

On April 20, 2018, King Philip Middle School sixth-graders Dominic Roussos and Clare Sweeney were recognized for placing first and second respectively in their division (grades 4-6) in the 25th annual Letters About Literature competition, a nationwide contest sponsored by the Library of Congress for students in grades 4 through 12. The Neag School, the Department of English, and the Connecticut Writing Project (CWP) served as the contest’s Connecticut sponsors for the 2017-2018 academic year. During the ceremony held at the Connecticut State Capitol building, Neag Professor Doug Kaufman, CWP Director Jason Courtmanche, and Neag Ph.D. candidate Dani King-Watkins served as the contest’s representatives for the state of Connecticut. Each student received a certificate and a check for $100 from Dollar General and UCONN Swag.

KP English Language Arts teacher, Lucinda Kulvinskas provided this writing opportunity for all of her students by assigning it as a writing piece. There were more than 1,300 submissions from Connecticut students and of the 120 finalists, THREE were from King Philip, and TWO were among the nine winners. Dominic Roussos’ essay was based on The King’s Stilts by Doctor Seuss, and Clare Sweeney’s essay was based on Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper.