Dear Birchwood students, alumni, and parents,
The old adage “time flies” stares us starkly in the face when we consider that it has been twenty-five years since Birchwood first opened its doors. As is expected, many changes have occurred. We have moved to a more spacious facility, expanded to eight classrooms, and grown from a staff of three to fourteen. Whether our student body is twenty—as in that first year—or one hundred and twenty, what has not changed is the caliber of education we have striven to offer all our students. In conjunction with the school’s twenty-fifth anniversary celebration, we are compiling a book of student winners of writing competitions. This book will stand as a tribute to the effectiveness of the school’s mission as borne out by our students’ achievements in the area of composition.
Remember Cricket stories, Scholastic Writing Award entries, Stone Soup poems, along with submissions to Writing!, FPS scenario writing, Power of the Pen, Letters About Literature, NCTE, OCTELA, LAW Day, and/or Pasta Tales? The list goes on, but if you have a winning entry (or entries) or anything published while you were at Birchwood, we would like to consider including your work(s) in an anthology. This is a long overdue project that would be a true celebration of academic excellence.
For many, this request might involve extensive digging into old files half buried in the back of your closets. For others, parents may be the keepers who have vouchsafed these relics from the past. We hope you will take the time to locate these treasures for us. We will include as many pieces as space permits.
When you send a copy of your writing to us, please include as much information as you can remember: (Hazard a guess by using a question mark if unsure)
Contest Name
Contest topic
Award/Placement/Level of Competition
Title of Piece
School year/Date/Grade when piece was written
Teacher involved
Please also return the attached Permission to Publish form (or retrieve it from www.birchwoodschool.com/alumni with login info: alumni,1984). If you are currently under eighteen years of age, also include a parent signature. You may email the attachment with the document to lctzeng @ aol . com or mail hard copies to Birchwood School, 4370 W. 140 St., Cleveland, OH 44135. Faxing is another option: (216) 251-2787. If you have any comments, questions, or quibbles, feel free to email or call me at (440) 725-9481.
Teachers always ask for the impossible, but that’s because we have always believed you can do miracles. Thank you so very much for your help.
Birchwood School Publication Release
4370 W. 140 St.
Cleveland, OH 44135
Phone: (216) 251-2321
Fax: (216) 251-2787
I hereby grant Birchwood School (BW) permission to reproduce and distribute any whole or part of my work for educational or promotional purposes and allow BW to sell such excerpts without any further permission or any financial obligation.
This is a nonexclusive license. Author(s) retain all rights to their own work, including the right to publish or submit to others for publication.
Print name of student
Signature of student
Parent Signature (Required if student is less than 18 years of age)
