46 Westlake Students Recognized By Ohio Library Of Congress

WESTLAKE, OH — A large group of Lee Burneson Middle School students have advanced to the next stage of the state's Library of Congress Letters About Literature contest.

Lee Burneson had 46 students named to the semifinalist phase, the highest number in school history. The students come from Deb Schrembeck's and Sara Latkowski's Language Arts classes.

For the contest, students are asked to read a book, poem, or speech and then write to the author (living or dead) about how the book personally impacted them. Letters are then judged on the state and national level.

The semifinalists are now part of the Round Two judging, where their letters will be more rigorously examined. Only first-place state winners will advance to national competition.

Last year, in Ohio, there were 1,340 letters submitted to the contest. The top 20 percent become state finalists. Nationally, about 8,000 letters make it to state-level judging.

Judges for the contests include authors, publishers, librarians, and teachers from all 50 states. State finalist letters will be sent to living authors, with hope of a personal reply.

National winners are recognized in a ceremony in Washington, D.C. in May.

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Here are the 46 Lee Burneson semifinalists:

1. Ben Akers
2. Keenan Alsabony
3. Drew Arkwright
4. Deema Assad
5. Audrey Blood
6. Jacub Bodo
7. Miles Bosau
8. Braelon Burnett
9. Brady Campbell
10. Grace Cole
11. Marisa Cutter
12. Avery Douglas
13. Brogan Hartup
14. Charlie Hennessey
15. Will Hennessey
16. Jayden Hess
17. Tess Hunt
18. Ellie Irwin
19. Anthi Katsaros
20. Michael Labenz
21. Henry Leader
22. Kerry Madden
23. Jaye McBride
24. Bridget McGervey
25. Tia Messed
26. Alex Moreno
27. Madeline Muntean
28. Malik Musleh
29. Alex Niceman
30. Anusha Nigam
31. Tia Nimylowycz
32. Stephanie Nivellini
33. Kaidyn Owen
34. Liam Pirnat
35. Ava Puchmeyer
36. Mitchell Reidl
37. Azhaar Shouman
38. Nicholas Steffas
39. Maeve Stofko
40. Nick Trivisonno
41. Kara Vig
42. Liam Walsh
43. Christina Ware
44. Mia Williams
45. Austin Windrau
46. Adam Zaizafoun

Photo from Westlake City Schools