St. Margaret’s Students Win Regional Honors in Scholastic Writing Awards

In categories ranging from poetry to flash fiction, four St. Margaret’s students took home five Gold Key awards in the writing categories of the 2017 Regional Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Tartans were also the recipients of 14 Silver Key awards and 14 honorable mentions in the West Coast At-Large region.

Junior Kinsale Hueston won two Gold Keys in two different categories. Her work titled “Haseya (She Rises)” was honored in dramatic script, while her work titled “Grandmother” was honored in poetry. Both works dealt with the challenges facing the present-day Navajo culture.

“I’m so grateful,” Kinsale said. “The poem and play I submitted this year were ones I spent a lot of time enriching with meaning, metaphor and relevant modern issues pertaining to my cultural identity and the current social climate, so to have them recognized was such an encouraging sign that my voice and passions were valued.”

Kinsale also won a Gold Key last year for her poem “Stella,” and that work was recently honored in the Yale Young Native Storytellers Contest as well.

The other 2017 Scholastic Gold Key Tartan winners are grade 8 student Molly Green (flash fiction, “The Last Sunset”), freshman Isabella Karahalios (poetry, “The Lilacs Peeking in the Window…”) and  junior Sahar Khashayar (poetry, “Growing Up Queer”). Numerous other St. Margaret’s students grades 7 through 12 were recognized with Silver Keys and honorable mentions, including senior Sydney Brinker, senior Jana Phillips and freshman Juliet Cushing who each won two Silver Key awards.

The five Gold Key works, along with the 12 Gold Key winners from St. Margaret’s in the art categories, will be forwarded for judging in the national competition.