Marcellus Fifth Grade Student Is Runner-up in Scholastic Storyworks’ Create a Character Contest

Congratulations go out to Driver Middle School fifth grade student Josh Winoski who was selected as one of the 75 runner-ups in the Scholastic Storyworks’ Create a Character Contest. Josh’s “character” entry was chosen from more than 9,000 contest entries. The Storyworks magazine competition called for participants to “create a character” for author Lisa Yee to use in a story. Yee is the author of an array of award winning books that include “Warp Speed”, “Bobby the Brave”, “So Totally Emily Ebers”, and “Millicent Min, Girl Genius. Josh’s teacher, Laurie Zoanetti, uses the Storyworks magazine in her classroom during English language arts instruction. She gave her class an assignment to come up with a character that included the following information and character traits:
· Age
· Where the character lived
· Presenting problem and solution
· Description of what the character looked like
Josh’s character was a first grade student who was” kind of clumsy and didn’t really fit in”. The character, Zach, thinks he is a superhero and one day on the playground Zach saves “a group of third graders from a bunch of bullies.” Josh received a runner-up certificate and a prize from Storyworks for his efforts. He was also honored at the May 17, 2011 Marcellus Schools Board of Education meeting where he had the opportunity to share his thought process as he created the character Zach, “He feels like he doesn’t fit in, not unlike many kids his age”. Josh’s family was on hand at the BOE meeting to share in his success.