Quality Literary Study Leads to Success

The West Virginia Academy English Language Arts staff are proud to announce that Jacob Treu has placed second in the state in the West Virginia Young Writers Contest.

Jacob Treu, 2nd place state winner at Young Writers Contest

Each year, Marshall University invites prose submissions from students on any topic of their choosing. These entries are judged by a panel of professionals and the winners are invited to a series of workshops in Charleston. Each scholar who submitted an entry did so after a process of great care and craft went into their finished pieces.

District-level winners

Jacob Treu (1-2 grades)

Aaron Treu (3-4 grades)

Jenna Barnett (7-8 grades)

Zuzanna Michalski (9-10 grades)

Aubrey Treu (11-12 grades)

The West Virginia Academy Literature and Language program offers a thorough course of study in the different facets of language and the ways in which we influence it, and it influences us. Right now, 7th grade scholars are reading The Time Machine by H. G. Wells and examining the ways in which speculative fiction can offer philosophical insight into universal problems.

8th grade scholars are reading a collection of essays and speeches from civil rights leaders throughout the 20th century. They are paying careful attention to the way an effective argument can be persuasively constructed at many different levels of magnification.

9th grade scholars are reading the American classic novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. They are discovering a gritty and realistic depiction of a hard life in depression-era California and how companionship can endure, and even thrive, in the most difficult circumstances.

10th and 11th grade scholars are reading The Pursuit of Happiness by Jeffrey Rosen. They are discovering how America's founders drew inspiration from ancient Greek philosophers like Pythagoras and Stoic thinkers such as Cicero. The text emphasizes the classical influence on the founders' vision of a republic built upon educated, morally responsible citizens engaged in civil discourse.