HEROES is seeking suggestions for a theme for next year's Writing Talent Search.
WRITING TALENT SEARCH FORMAT
The concept of the Writing Talent Search is to have middle school and high school students write a college level paper that is graded by college instructors using the same standard that they use for their freshmen English students. It's based on the concept of using above grade testing that's employed by more traditional talent searches that have 7th graders take the SAT.
For the first Writing Talent Search students had to write an essay. (see
www.TalentSearch.HEROESgifted.com) For next year we would like to allow them to be able to choose between writing an essay or other forms of writing such as poem, short story, drama or research paper. The essays are graded by the Associate Director of the Rutgers University Writing Program. We are still working on suitable experts to grade other types of writing.
In order to validate the individual's writing skills we require that finalists compete in a final round under proctored conditions. Last year's final round was held at Rutgers University in New Jersey. We can accomodate students who can not travel to NJ for the final round by making arrangements for them to test under proctored conditions near their home.
We would like to have a unifying theme for the contest each year. Here are some requirements:
- It should relate to being gifted
- There needs to be a related reading passage
Any suggestions for themes and related reading passages would be greatly appreciated.
