This past Friday, Feb. 1st, Scholastic announced the Gold Key recipients of their 2019 Scholastic Writing Awards. Six students from Klein Cain received a Gold Key award, and Klein ISD broke a record with the amount of Gold Key’s their students received this year.

To start, Klein ISD submitted far more entries than usual, totaling 421. Of those, 396 entries received some form of recognition from Scholastic. 135 received Honorable Mentions, while 157 received Silver Keys and 104 received Gold Keys. This means that a whopping 94% of entries received recognition of some kind from Scholastic.

Gold Keys are an incredible asset on a student’s resume and a sign of astounding writing ability. Klein Cain students Aneek Roy, Anya Robinson, Rodrigo Milan, River Holloran, Francisco Citlali, and Gabriella Delgado all received Gold Keys. They wrote in many formats, such as poetry, short stories, and memoirs. Recipients of a Gold Key are invited to the national competition in New York.

“I’m really excited about receiving a Gold Key,” sophomore Aneek Roy said. “It means my hard work paid off and opens up many more opportunities for my future.” Roy had submitted a piece of poetry entitled Sober Lies.

This set of winners is also shocking when taking into the consideration the number of entrants who never considered themselves “writers.” These students were encouraged by Klein ISD to take their amateur writing skills and work on improvement by the time the contest began.

“We encouraged them because they had something to say, something that should be honored and recognized, something beyond a class assignment,” Klein ISD stated on their website.

Scholastic will announce National Medalists on March 13th.