AHA Writers Excel in Regional Competition; Tao Goes to Nationals

Five wordsmiths from the Academy of the Holy Angels achieved accolades in the regional Scholastic Art & Writing Competition. AHA’s honorees include Gold Key winner Elise Tao and Silver Key winners Caitlin Brannigan and Natasha Dhanrajani. Isabella Dail, Gian Lee, Brannigan, and Tao also earned Honorable Mentions.

Tao’s Gold Key “unlocked” her ability to enter the national competition. As a result, this member of the Class of 2024 will continue to the highest level of this prestigious event.

“I am exhilarated to be entering the national competition with my Gold Key critical essay, ‘Mo Li Hua’: What China’s Folk Chef-D’œuvre Can Teach Us About a Dying Genre.’ This was definitely a ‘happy accident’ that I will cherish for the longest time,” the Upper Saddle River resident said. “The inspiration for the piece came when I was in (AHA Instrumental Music Director Mariann) Annecchino’s class, wondering what I could write my musical essay about.

Memories of a song I knew since childhood came ringing in my head, and thus I sat down to describe the origins of said composition and how it correlates with the evolution of modern folk. I heard ‘Mo Li Hua’ (‘Jasmine Flower’) sung at Lunar New Year’s parties, during family karaoke, and countless events to name. Fun fact: I was listening to indie-folk playlists while writing my essay. Overall, this was an unexpected occurrence that I can only thank my teachers at AHA, friends, and the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards for deeply.”

Tao also won Honorable Mentions for her poems “ERUTAN” and “surface area,” and a poetry collection entitled “Pseudonymous.” She explained that these works contemplate human beings’ impact on our planet, the double standard for females in modern society, and the path to uncovering one’s identity. She studies English with Anna May Thurchak.

Brannigan received honors for her sci-fi pieces. She brought home a Silver Key for “Calamity of Freedom” and an Honorable Mention for “Past Phasmophobia.” Brannigan previously earned the 2020 New Jersey Governor’s Award in Arts Education for “Calamity of Freedom.” She advanced to the Governor’s competition after finishing first in the contest sponsored by the New Jersey Council of Teachers of English.

Inspired, in part, by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Brannigan wrote her fictional piece about a world that exists after the extinction of humanity. The protagonists are two robots who are searching for remnants of human civilization among the ruins of New York City.

This AHA senior is a resident of Hillsdale. She has studied with AHA English Department Chair Nancy Schneberger.

Dhanrajani earned her Silver Key for her dramatic script entitled “Suppressed.” This member of the Class of 2022 is a resident of Bardonia, New York. Her sci-fi, prose, poetry, and personal memoir have been published by “Scrawl,” whose judges accept high-quality submissions from Rockland County teens. Dhanrajani revealed that she fell in love with writing dramatic scripts after she took a three-week acting workshop at the New York Film Academy in New York City. She has also taken a creative writing course at Columbia University. Dhanrajani, who previously earned a Silver Key and a Gold Key for her scripts, studies English with Stephanie Dowling.

Lee, a junior from Englewood Cliffs, garnered three Honorable Mentions. Her winning works include her poem, “Pepper Flake,” which was inspired by her experience as a Korean-American, and her personal essays/memoirs “Maybe it Was the Rain” and “Adultescent.” Lee’s essays are a reflection on her desire for time to slow down because she is still finding herself, and her realization that adults’ lives extend beyond parenthood.

Lee will enter the national competition for her fine art. She received two Gold Keys for “Left Behind,” a painting inspired by her grandfather’s struggle with Alzheimer’s disease, and “Red, ‘Yellow,’ and Blue,” a sculpture that explores Asian-American cultural identity. Her photo, “Figure and Ground,” also earned her a Silver Key.

Dail, a junior from Saddle River, received six Honorable Mentions. Her works include “Five Feet of Paper,” a dramatic script; “Suspended,” a piece of flash fiction; “A Communal Announcement,” a humor piece; “Woven,” a personal essay/memoir; and “Relics” and “Our Age of Fitzgerald,” both of which are poems.

The Scholastic Art & Writing Competition, which was launched in 1923, is the nation’s longest-running recognition program for teen artists and writers. Notable alumni of the writing program include Sylvia Plath, Joyce Carol Oates, Truman Capote, John Updike, and Stephen King.

Founded by the School Sisters of Notre Dame in 1879, the Academy of the Holy Angels is the oldest private girls’ school in Bergen County. While AHA is steeped in Catholic tradition, this prestigious high school serves young women from various cultural and religious backgrounds. Many go on to study at some of the nation’s best universities, earning high-ranking positions in medicine, government, law, education, public service, business, arts, and athletics.