Penning his way to top honors at Power of the Pen State Finals – New Philadelphia Middle School’s Luke Weaver

  • By Jennifer Kneuss
  • May 30, 2011
  • 413
Penning his way to top honors at Power of the Pen State Finals – New Philadelphia Middle School’s Luke Weaver
Penning his way to top honors at Power of the Pen State Finals – New Philadelphia Middle School’s Luke Weaver
Penning his way to top honors at Power of the Pen State Finals – New Philadelphia Middle School’s Luke Weaver
Penning his way to top honors at Power of the Pen State Finals – New Philadelphia Middle School’s Luke Weaver
Penning his way to top honors at Power of the Pen State Finals – New Philadelphia Middle School’s Luke Weaver
                        
Summary: One outstanding young writer took second place overall awards recently at Ohio’s Power of the Pen State Finals event in Wooster. His journey began in the fall of 2010, and ended with his astounding accomplishment on May 27 as the Welty Middle School 7th grader earned top honors in the state. It began early in 2011, when 7,000 competitors from 7th and 8th grade classes all across Ohio competed in district 27th annual Power of the Pen competitions. By the time those 7,000 students moved through district competitions, then on to regional tournaments and finally to state competition on May 27, only 700 qualifiers from 280 middle schools representing 82 Ohio counties were left standing. Those 700 competed at the College of Wooster, putting over one million words onto paper during the Friday morning preliminary competition. That, according to one organizer, ‘is equivalent to 20,000 to 50,000 novels being written in three hours.’ That 700 was narrowed down to 50 top students from each of the 7th and 8th grade groups, who wrote for the famous and nerve wracking 35 minute ‘Power Round’ on the college campus. Among the 50 7th grade students was Luke Weaver, a 13 year old from Welty Middle School. And when the final results were tallied, Weaver was called to stand before over a thousand people to be recognized as taking second place in the 2011 Ohio Power of the Pen state tournament. He was cheered on by the other four seventh graders and three eighth graders from Welty Middle School who had also advanced to state, all coached by teacher Diana Burkey. “It is amazing that so many members of our two teams made it all the way to state tournaments,” exclaimed Burkey. “Many schools don’t have any who do, or maybe one or two. I’m so proud of them all, and we are all so happy for Luke.” “The Power Round prompt was, ‘The question is why? Now answer it”, explained Weaver after the awards ceremony, once the excitement of winning had abated slightly. “ I liked that prompt…it just really hit me. Writing about a soldier was the first thing that popped into my head.” “I wrote about a US soldier in Iraq who survived when the rest of his comrades didn’t. So the question (for him) was ‘why am I still here?. We had 35 minutes to write, and it went really fast. I got the beginning, middle and end in there, but I wrote non-stop. I finished right at 35 minutes.” ”I automatically knew what I was going to do. I always normally have a soundtrack going in my mind when I’m writing. I had a song about a soldier playing in my head (this time),” the seventh grader noted. Weaver went on to explain that his story was inspired by the service of his father’s first cousin, Devan J. Grella, who was hit by a roadside bomb in Iraq September 6, 2004. The young soldier from Medina, Ohio was just 20 years old at the time of his death, and Weaver constantly wears a metal memory bracelet to honor Grella’s memory. Hearing of the inspiration for his son’s story obviously impacted Luke Weaver’s father, Chris, who is also president of the New Philadelphia Board of Education and a strong supporter of the continuation of the Power of the Pen program. “That’s why you wrote it? That means a lot,” Chris Weaver said, his eyes brimming as he turned toward his son. A second student who received special recognition at the State Finals was Claymont Middle School’s Abbi Cox. Cox was presented a prestigious poetry award for an insightful and humorous poem that questioned the list of names of previous students that is inscribed inside the front cover of every textbook, and mused about the experiences of those former book owners. Weaver is the son of Chris and Lisa Weaver of New Philadelphia, and Cox is the daughter of Mark and Susi Cox of Dennison. Special speaker for the event was renowned author Chris Crutcher, who not only encouraged the students to strive toward their dreams during his afternoon address, but also made himself available to meet with the writers individually and sign copies of his books, which include the humorous autobiography, King of the Mild Frontier. “I love this (Power of the Pen) thing. It is amazing! I think there should be one in every state. I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Crutcher enthusiastically. “These kids are just like a sports team, only smarter!”


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