Viewpoint students receive writing awards

Two students from Viewpoint private school in Calabasas received awards for excellence in writing.

Eighth-grader Rachel Ende of Thousand Oaks has been recognized by the National Council of Teachers of English as a 2008 Promising Young Writer, and senior Molly Davis of Woodland Hills is a state finalist in the Journalist Education Association's National High School Journalist of the Year contest.

Rachel was selected for recognition as a 2008 Promising Young Writer among 700 students nominated by teachers throughout the United States, Canada, Virgin Islands, and American Schools abroad.

"I am very interested in the ways people interact and communicate, and I hope to write about this in different forms of fiction," Rachel said.

"Rachel has proven to be a wonderful English student throughout her years in middle school," said her English teacher, Mario Garcia. "Both her creative and analytic writing skills have established her as a true writer."

Molly is editor-in-chief of Viewpoint's newspaper, The Patriot, and last summer she participated in a five-week journalism program at Northwestern University's National High School Institute to enrich her training in the field.

"This is the first time in the five years of the Upper School journalism program that a Viewpoint student entered this level of competition," said Viewpoint journalism teacher Laurie Allen, regarding Mollie's nomination for National High School Journalist of the Year.

"Molly competed against students from all California high schools; her writing style stood out from the crowd and earned her this recognition," Allen said.