Staples sophomore Sam Sheppard placed seventh in the Connecticut Young Writers Trust Competition for a piece she submitted, written in English class. This was Sheppard’s first time entering a writing competition and was selected from hundreds of pieces.

Sheppard first heard about the competition from Soundings advisor Alex Miller. “It was brought to my attention during my participation in the Poetry Out Loud competition’s fall workshop,” Miller said, “I threw it out there to the Soundings community, but I think that Sam may have been the only entry from SHS.”

Sheppard entered the prose competition, “My piece was about how we see ourselves in forms of art (fiction, movies, music, etc.) and how it is human nature to empathize with others’ experiences. I talked about how it contributes to how we view our own experiences and how we deal with different stages in our lives.”

Miller attributes Sheppard’s success to her persistence. “She understands the value of revision. She can be a bit hard on herself, but I think that this may be an asset to her writing process. She aims for precision, and she’s willing to work to get there,” said Miller, “I’m pleasantly surprised; not too shabby for a 10th grader competing against college-bound seniors.”