Newburgh Free Academy, Main Campus Student Wins Writing Contest

 Newburgh Free Academy, Main Campus student, Redwan Arosh, grade 9 won a trip to a place in the Hudson Valley as a result of an essay he submitted for their "Writing about Place" competition, sponsored by Teaching the Hudson Valley. Three additional students, Isabella, Arton, and Chris received honorable mentions.

“Students who submitted entries to this year’s Writing about Place imagined being trees, super heroes, statues, and more. They shared personal connections to urban parks and formal gardens, mansions and mountains,” said Scott Keller, acting director of the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area. “Their writing reminds us that our region is full of places that provide solace and inspiration, shaping our identities and sense of community.”

THV will share students’ poems and essays in the coming weeks on THV blog. In the meantime, we want to introduce the top-scoring authors in this school year’s Writing about Place. Their classes will receive trips to the places they wrote about.

The statue Ailce Rosi-Marshall wrote about is in the archway at the back of this photo by Bill Urbin, NPS.

Redwan Arosh, a freshman at Newburgh Free Academy, conjured the life of a tree in an essay titled The Beauty of Bear Mountain. Mr. Arosh explores how a tree might look and feel in each season, describes the ebb and flow of visitors, and contemplates a tree’s role as “a home for birds and squirrels” and a source of oxygen for humans. English teacher Virginia McCurdy submitted Mr. Arosh’s work as well as essays by other students in the Newburgh Enlarged City Schools.

ATTENTION: Are your scholars or colleagues doing something great? Please contact the district Communications Team at communications@necsd.net. We’d love to visit your class or event and/or post your pictures and recap to highlight the amazing accomplishments throughout our district!