Pen Ohio finishes on a high note

On May 17, 2019, the final Pen Ohio state tournament took place. English teacher and creative writing coach, Conni Hilston lead the group, consisting of senior Alexis Torer and juniors Cori Slaw, Becca Bjelopera, and I.

Leaving at 8:00 sharp, our team was ready to head off to Lake Erie College to participate in the final round of the Pen Ohio tournament.

Our meeting place was the Mortley Music Hall, which has a pleasing old-fashioned aesthetic. Seeing all the schools gathered up in the seats gave me a sense of hope for our future generation, which was a prominent topic of the guest speakers. Nearly five minutes after the team showed up, we departed to another building.

The competition consisted of three rounds, each with a different writing prompt. The first prompt was simply “underestimated,” which was a fairly general prompt for anyone to write to. The biggest flaw with the first round was that some of the judges showed up nearly a half hour late because finding the desired location was equivalent to completing a corn maze.

The second round’s prompt was “falsely accused. You didn’t do it but you wanted to do it anyways,” which was a hefty prompt for us to comply to. The gears within my mind had a harder time processing this prompt than the first and the last prompt.

Speaking of the last prompt, the last was my favorite, stating: “Write about a story in which ignorance lead to an argument.” I don’t know if I was in a good mood that moment or if it was good luck, but my highest scoring story was for this prompt.

Waiting several hours for our results, the teams hung out in another building to eat lunch. After our desired free time was over, we reported back to the Mortley Music Hall, where guest speakers Grizzle Wizard of Waste Not Want Not, who made a crucial speech about climate change and our generation, and Daniel Porter, a author who was rejected over five hundred times before setting off his career. He has written books such as Shalinar's Song and 'Til the Streetlights Came On; Lessons Learned from Neighborhood Games.

After our anticipation took us to the edge of our seats, it was announced that Cori Slaw won third place for the Varsity division and our team won third place for the Varsity division.

Overall, my first (and unfortunately last experience competing in Pen Ohio) was a life changing experience for me as a creative writer, and I hope another competition will be put in place.

Pen Ohio has been discontinued after the final tournament, but its impact will last forever.