This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Schools

Whiz Kid: Taylor Tamang

Eighth-grader is about to go to a state Power of the Pen competition

Cleveland Heights Whiz Kid of the Week: Taylor Tamang

  • Eighth-grader at
  • Will compete in a state Power of the Pen competition next month
  • Also acts, plays softball and sang at

It only took one glance at the Power of the Pen competition going on in front of her for Taylor Tamang to be hooked.

Taylor, 13, was in sixth grade at the time and too young to compete. Her language arts teacher took the whole class to watch the districtwide competition happening in her school, Monticello Middle School. She wanted to join in, too.

Find out what's happening in Cleveland Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“I like to write, and it seemed like something I’d really want to do,” she said. “During the award ceremony, they read little excerpts from everyone’s story. It looked like a lot of fun.”

Power of the Pen is a three-round competition where students are given a writing prompt in each round and 42 minutes to create a story based on that prompt. Judges then grade the work and those with the highest scores get to move on.

Find out what's happening in Cleveland Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Taylor has already moved on from districts and regionals this year and will compete against 700 other students at states next week at the College of Wooster. Winners in several categories will receive plaques, medals, savings bonds and the grand prize for the Young Talent Award: a $2,400 scholarship for the College of Wooster and $500 cash.

“I try to think outside the box so that it’s not the normal thing that you’d do,” she said of her strategy. “It would make you stick out to judges. You don’t want something that’s kind of the normal mush of everyone else’s.”

She said she already knows she’ll be nervous, but the nerves tend to melt away once she puts pen to paper.

“You can just make it into whatever you want it to be. There’s not many things you can do that with,” she said of why she likes writing. “You can write about people and make them how you want them to be, or about society and how you want it to be. And no one can really tell you what to do.”

In addition to writing, Taylor also likes theater and recently played the Wicked Witch of the West in her school’s production of The Wiz. She also plays softball for the school and sings in the Honors Choir with students from .

Last month the choir performed at Severance Hall as part of the Reaching Musical Heights concert, featuring Cleveland Heights-University Heights student musicians and held every four years.

Do you know a Whiz Kid? Send your nominations to Cleveland Heights Patch editor Michelle Simakis.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Cleveland Heights