The 2006-07 Varsity Choir at Cloquet Senior High School, under the direction of Choral Director Elizabeth Wilson, has been selected as a winner of one of the 14th annual Lillian Wright Awards for Creative Writing. Their piece titled "Rolling to be a Champion" was chosen as Best Song Selection.
This award represents high literary achievement and is the result of a year long selection process, according to Wilson. The COMPAS Writers and Artists in the Schools program, in 80-100 schools throughout Minnesota including Cloquet, charge their professional writers to select what they believe to be the five best examples of student writing produced during each week in a particular school. These pieces are then submitted to the editor or their annual anthology of student writing, who selects one piece from each residency for publication. Then, from that final grouping, an exemplary Minnesota teacher serves as judge and selects a total of eight pieces of writing for the various Wright Award categories.
"Besides being feted at Landmark Center on Saturday, Dec. 8, the Varsity Choir's work has been published in this year's anthology of student writing, titled 'Eyes Full of Sky,'" Wilson said.
The choir also received a certificate and a U.S. Savings Bond in addition to a check for $100 to purchase books for the school library.
Derek Schrecengost, a sophomore at Cloquet Senior High School, accepted the award at the Landmark Center on Dec. 8 and performed the song with singer/songwriter Charlie Maguire. The song was written as part of a song writing residency at Cloquet Middle and High School last November.
