Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science senior Victoria Gong was honored in Washington, D.C., for her creative writing Nov. 15. Gong, whose hometown is Vicksburg, traveled to the nation’s capitol for the Department of Education awards ceremony with her teacher, Emma Richardson of the MSMS English Department.
One of Gong’s short stories was selected for publication in “Best Teen Writing 2018” (Scholastic Publishing Co.) Her work was chosen from among short stories receiving National Medals in the 2018 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards program for high school students. Almost 350,000 works of art and writing were submitted from entrants across the country.
“Just 77 pieces of writing from those initial 350,000 entries in writing and art are published in ‘Best Teen Writing 2018,’ including only 17 short stories, so Victoria’s honor is a singular one,” Richardson said.
MSMS students attending the two-year residential high school in Columbus won three of the five National Gold Medals in writing awarded to Mississippi students. Richardson, Gong and another MSMS National Medalist, Helen Peng of Starkville, attended the National Ceremony of the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards program at Carnegie Hall in New York City on June 7.
An exhibition including more than 80 works of art and the writing are on display in the lobby of the U.S. Department of Education’s main building in Washington, D.C., and at the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences office building.
The MSMS Foundation supported Gong’s and Richardson’s travel to Washington for the ceremony.
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