CCSD Student Earns National Honor for Writing Excellence

A Cherokee County School District student has earned a top national award for writing excellence!

River Ridge High School junior Baileigh J. Borna earned First Class honors in the prestigious 2023 National Council of Teachers of English Writing’s Achievement Awards in Writing Program contest. 

Hundreds of high school juniors from across the country are nominated by their schools for the awards each year, and Baileigh is one of only 114 nationwide to earn the top honor of First Class.

“Congratulations to Baileigh on achieving this esteemed accolade for her writing,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Brian V. Hightower said.  “We already were set to honor Baileigh this month for both her PTA Reflections literature competition first-place statewide win and her Georgia Young Authors regional first-place win, and she’s now made it a ‘triple crown’ with this national award.  I read her winning entry, which combines personal essay with fictional vignettes, and was impressed by her writing skills and by her understanding of the value of education.” 

The National Council of Teachers of English Writing’s school-based writing program was established in 1957 to encourage writing and to recognize the nation’s outstanding young writers.  Students must meet specific guidelines for their entries, which are scored by a panel of independent judges on expression of ideas, language use, and unique perspective and voice.

For Baileigh’s award-winning entry, she wrote about education and the United Nations address by Malala Yousafzai in which she shared the now famous quote:  “Let us pick up our books and our pens; they are the most powerful weapons.  One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world.  Education is the only solution.  Education first.”  You can read her entry online here.

The Cherokee County School Board and Dr. Hightower will recognize Baileigh at this month’s school board meeting.
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