(Piscataway, NJ—March 12, 2017) Out of almost 2,000 letters submitted from New Jersey
in the 2016-2017 Letters About
Literature contest,
High Tech High School received notice that four of its students had been recognized
at the 2017 Letters About Literature
Award Ceremony at Rutgers University’s Livingston College Student Center,
announced Dr. Joseph Giammarella, Principal of High Tech High School.
In the Level III category
covering 9-12 graders, Hoboken resident Rebecca Klein-Cohen earned Second Place
for her letter to Lin Manuel Miranda, the creator of the widely-popular musical
Hamilton: An American Musical.
Also in that category, the
following High Tech students earned Distinguished Honors: Gabriel Goya of
Bayonne, who wrote a letter addressed to David Lubar, author of Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie, and North
Bergen residents Julissa Laignelet and Isabella Rodriguez, who wrote to Jay Asher,
author of Thirteen Reasons Why, and
Lauren Oliver, the author of Before I
Fall, respectively.
These High Tech students
will be honored, along with others, at a statewide reception at the Livingston College
Student Center of Rutgers University on May 17th.
Judges for Letters About Literature include
authors, publishers, librarians and educators. The first two rounds of reading occurs
at the Library of Congress, which determines which letters advance to
state-level judging. First place state winners only advance for national
judging.
Letters
About Literature, a
reading/writing contest for students in grades 4-12, recognizes students who
read a book, poem, or speech and compose letters to the authors, whether living
or dead, on how the authors’ works affect them personally. Judges review letters
on state and national levels. Tens of thousands of students from across the
country enter Letters About Literature
every year.
