Bernotas Student Wins National Scholastic Writing Contest

CRYSTAL LAKE, IL — Molly Sterzik, a sixth grader from Bernotas Middle School, was among five students nationwide to win a September 2019 SCOPE expository writing contest. SCOPE is a middle school language arts magazine published electronically and in print by Scholastic, according to a news release from District 47.

Sterzik’s essay was one of 232 submitted by middle school students across the United States. Sterzik entered in the contest. Students read the September SCOPE cover story called “My Life As a Refugee” about a 15-year-old Somali refugee named Bilan, who fled with her family to a refugee camp in Ethiopia.

The essay called for students to write about the challenges Bilan faced and what is being done to help refugees like her. Click the link to read Sterzik’s winning essay, according to the news release.

When asked what she liked best about the writing contest, Sterzik said, “It would be cool to help solve some of the problems going on in the world and I liked researching about that stuff - I think it’s interesting.”

The SCOPE writing contest was Sterzik’s first, but she said she may enter another one in the future. As a winner, Sterzik received a certificate and a copy of “Escape from Aleppo” by N. H. Senza.