Rhinelander High School students Samantha Hoppe, Alison Kubeny and Samantha Kopplin recently attended the UW Stevens Point High School Creative Writers’ Workshop, an event held yearly for promising high school creative writers. High school juniors and seniors are invited to submit writing samples for a chance to qualify for the Writers’ Workshop held at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

The one-day workshop gives students the opportunity to discuss their writing with UW-Stevens Point English faculty members and guest speakers, and senior students can compete for scholarships to attend UW-Stevens Point. Students may enter by sending writing samples in any or all of five specific genres: formal essays on an environmental topic, familiar essays, children’s literature, poetry, and fiction. The writing samples are judged by UW-Stevens Point English faculty members who also lead the workshops.

Alison Kubeny submitted a familiar essay for the contest, Samantha Kopplin submitted a handful of poems, and Samantha Hoppe submitted a story that fell into the speculative fiction category. At the end of the workshop, it was revealed that Samantha Hoppe won a $1,000 scholarship for her short story-the professors believed hers was the best submitted out of over 100 stories. About 75 students from across the state attended the conference.