Fifth-grader wins statewide DAR essay contest

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — A Demarest Elementary School student has been named the statewide, first-place winner in a Daughters of the American Revolution story contest.

Fifth-grader Genevieve Reoch won for her story on the DAR-determined topic, “A Colonial Family’s Reaction to the Stamp Act.”

The DAR selected this topic because March 22, 2015, marked the 250th anniversary of the Stamp Act. According to contest guidelines, “This new tax required all colonists to pay a tax on every printed piece of paper they used. The Stamp Act was viewed by the colonists as ‘taxation without representation.’ Describe a colonial family’s discussion about the new Stamp Act and what role it played in organizing the colonists against the British king and Parliament.”

Fifth-, sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students throughout the state were eligible. According to Rosemary Vetrano, the media specialist at Demarest, 1,623 students from 45 schools participated. Genevieve’s entry will now go to a nationwide contest. Her story is about young Elizabeth Fisher, a 10-year-old girl living on the family apple farm, in Newark, when the Stamp Act became law. The narrative begins, “It’s getting cold in New Jersey in October 1765, and I don’t mean the weather. I live in a tense time.”

In the story, Elizabeth’s father has just returned home one evening angrier than “hornets in the orchard,” according to the girl. She is shooed away to bed by her mother. But Elizabeth hides in the shadows and learns that her father has met with other colonists. They have discussed the new tax imposed on them to finance more British wars. The father warns his wife about the discovery of the press. Hearing this, Elizabeth thinks something is amiss with the cider press and sneaks outside to the mill to investigate. She discovers nothing unusual about the cider press. But without her knowing, her father has followed her. He tells her he was not talking about the apple press but a printing press which he uses to print pamphlets to inform the people and raise revolution and independence fervor. He acknowledges the danger of doing this but tells her it must be done.
It is a wonderful story. With a contest limit of 600 words, Genevieve’s story is 599.

“It didn’t take long to write,” Genevieve said earlier this week at the school. “There was no rough draft. It was a lot of words.”
Genevieve was with her language arts and social studies teacher, Karen Magliacano, when she spoke. The American Revolution is a fifth-grade curriculum subject throughout the district.

“Gen is an excellent writer,” Magliacano said. “I think she got so high because she used many literary elements.”
When she begins a story, Genevieve said she does not know where it will end.

“I just write and write and write,” she said. “At the end, I try to make a statement, something really shocking.”
For her Stamp Act story, she had to cut 250 words.

“It was very hard to cut down,” she said. “I had a part where it’s 15 years later. But I think it’s better like this. I left you hanging.”

The story was written for the Readers/Writers Workshop, which has been part of the Bloomfield curriculum for three years. Magliacano was Genevieve’s teacher for her contest entry. But Magliacano credited Vetrano for setting up
a number of websites where Demarest contestants could find historical information. According to Vetrano, from the Bloomfield school district, a total of 287 fifth graders; 253 sixth graders; 50 seventh graders; and 144 eighth graders participated. This is a total of 684 township students.

Writing the DAR stories got under way in October. Magliacano said she thought, “Oh my god, and school is just starting.”
The stories were emailed to Magliacano who made suggestions and sent them back to the writers. More revisions were done and the stories were sent to Vetrano who submitted them.

Demarest did quite good in the contest. In addition to Genevieve, among Bloomfield school children, fifth-graders, Elijah Grados was awarded third place, and Alex Capet and Lily Ann Bacchus received honorable mentions. Justin Nader, a sixth-grader, also received an honorable mention.

Genevieve learned just last week the results from Principal Mary Todaro.
“I saw Mrs. Todaro in the hallway and she said, ‘I have good news.’ My mother was almost crying. I called her right after school.”

Genevieve said her grandmother is a writer and an editor.
“She once edited a dictionary and had a book published,” she said. “My whole family is good writers.”
Additional Demarest teachers involved with the student writers were Collin Orshak, Francesca Gallo and Adriana Festa.

Other Bloomfield school district winners included, the fifth grade: second place, Elissa Dagher, Franklin School; third place (tie), Ava Virali, Oak View School; honorable mentions, Anayiz Estrella Watsessing Elementary; Aaliyah Edwards, Fairview Elementary; Lindsey Piano, Oak View; and Giancarlo Cortez Serrano, Brookdale Elementary. Sixth-grade winners included: first place, Delia Heller, Berkeley Elementary; second place, Joseph Micciche, Oak View; and Josh Barry, Oak View.

The seventh-grade winners were: first place, Mia Scollo; second place, Lisa Kostidakis; and third place, Emma Morse. The eighth-grade winners were: first place, Vanessa Chin; second place, Delyse Howard; and third place, Camille Luzano Aquino. All seventh- and eighth-grade students attend the Bloomfield Middle School.