Two more Marblehead High School students have won honors in a New York Times essay writing contest. This month, freshman Serena Nyberg and junior Max won honorable mentions for their 100-word personal narratives.
More than 12,400 teens from around the world submitted essays to the contest. Judges chose 13 winners, 23 runners-up and 46 honorable mentions.
“I am trans, I was born female,” Max said, discussing his 100-word narrative. “When I was young and imagined my life as an adult, it was as a woman. Being trans, there’s a part of myself that had to mourn the loss of that woman.”
One line of Max’s essay reads, “She lived loudly, fearlessly laughing at whatever the world threw at her. When I changed my name, I laid her to rest. With every passing week, her voice disappears into mine.” (Read the full essays below.)
Nyberg is an artist and wrote about her relationship with her beloved sketchbook. “I haven’t had a lot of life experiences and my sketchbook represents me, all my ideas.”.
“When I’m drawing, I become panicky with anticipation, restless, the image begging to be created. I look down and it’s done. I finally breathe,” reads a line from Nyberg’s essay.
Max has entered several New York Times writing contests, but this essay was his favorite.
“I like the creativity of narratives,” he said. “There’s a freedom in writing in your own voice.”
Max and Nyberg are students of MHS English teacher Jenn Billings. She has been encouraging students to enter New York Times contests for six years. Since then, about a dozen Marblehead students have won top honors or honorable mentions.
Last year, MHS students Mimi Fallon and Carrie Linde (both now seniors) won top honors for writing and recording a music video called “Outed” about Fallon coming out as gay. Another student, Courtney Duffey (now a sophomore) won for her piece of visual art called “Amidst the Blaze,” representing her reactions to the January 6 Capitol attack.
“This makes the world of writing real for students,” Billing said. “It’s a place for kids to show off their skills. I always have great entries – every single year.”
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A Funeral for the Girl I Was
Max, MHS junior
She longed for a house by the sea with three cats. She loved getting lost in books, consuming stories with a never-ending hunger. She relished listening to the rain, watching water hang on every branch and roll down car windows. She lived loudly, fearless laughing at whatever the world threw at her. When I changed my naame, I laid her to rest. With every passing week, her voice disappears into mine. I wish having my body didn’t destroy hers; it was beautiful, and I hope she knows I never hated her. I mourn for the girl I could have been.
The keeper of creativity
Serena Nyberg, MHS freshman
My sketchbook is tattered and bruised from hours of creativity. When I reach for it, pages hanging by a thread, I can’t help but be consumed. Consumed as I watch an imagine flow from my mind, through the pencil, onto the paper. My brain is jammed with ideas that I can’t seem to execute fast enough. When I’m drawing I become panicky with anticipation, reslstess, the image begging to be created. I look down and it’s done. I finally breathe. The weight of the idea has been stolen by my sketchbook. The keeper of my creativity. Of me.
