English teacher Mrs. Jennifer Seavey hosted a kickoff on Wednesday, Oct. 21 to start the Scholastic Art and Writing competition season.

The Scholastic Art and Writing competition is a way for young writers and artists to showcase their talents and stories for the world to see. Many of the artists and writers of the Jefferson community are participants in this competition.

“At the kickoff, we learned about all the different categories of the competition and their requirements to enter,” sophomore Lyat Melese said. “I am especially excited to participate in the poetry and personal memoir categories.”

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, not much will change in the overall process, since most of the process took place online in past years.

“It’s all about the same. Everything was essentially online last year,” Seavey said.

This year, through the encouragement of their English teachers, many new writers have signed up to participate in the competition.

“This is my first year participating in the Scholastic Art and Writing competition and my first time really hearing about it, as my English teacher Ms. Henry piqued my interest for submitting,” sophomore Jessica Wang said. “Writing has been one of my greatest hobbies for a long time, but I had never considered submitting anything to competitions, and this year I just wanted to take a risk and see what it was about.”

In addition, there are many returning writers and artists participating in the Scholastic competition who are interested in exploring the world of writing and art and seeing the different submissions this year.

“This year I intend to make my pieces more deep, hopefully reflecting how I have matured through the year. I also hope that I can write pieces for a wider variety of categories too,” sophomore Krisha Pahwa said. “I feel like this year, due to the events of 2020, it will be interesting to read the pieces of others because they will be more deep and reflective.”

Through this competition, many new and old writers and artists will have a chance to shine and be praised and noticed through their writing or art.

“I hope students who participate are excited to have their work compete in a national competition. Receiving these awards is a huge honor for the students and the school,” art teacher Ms. Tracy Harris said. “It gives students an outlet to be praised and encouraged for their creative talents. It’s a great opportunity for any TJ artist or author.”