It was the “Day of the Writer” last week at Manteca High School when students took pen to paper and chalk to concrete during all their classes – even in PE.

English IV teacher Elyce Silva organized and coordinated the event with her peers across campus bringing focus to the “very important craft of writing.”  She asked every student, teacher, staff member, and administrator to spend at least a part of their day writing.

“It is important that our students not only hear us say that we value writing, but also see us participate in writing,” she said. 

Administrators and other staff members visited classrooms throughout the day to take part in the writing activities that fed into the high school’s fifth annual writing contest.  Student and staff winners in the contest are to be honored at MHS and to be seen in the Manteca Bulletin.

The writing contest prizes are being sponsored by the Academic Boosters’ Club with the overall winner to get a $50 gift card with his or her name being put on a plaque to be placed in the front office.  Each writing content area winner and teacher will be getting a $10 gift card.

Winners are to be named in each of the following categories: Science, Electives, Modern Language, PE, Social Science, English and Special Education.

In Chemistry students were asked to compose words and simple sentences rearranging the symbols for elements on the periodic table.  “B-U-F-F-Al-O-Es” represented Boron-Uranium-Fluorine-Aluminum-Oxygen- Einsteinium.

In Economics student were asked to write their piece on the “Recipe of the Government Shutdown.”  In Art students found poems and produced chalk drawings on the concrete.  And, in Business classes the writers were assigned to describe what business means to them using key words from beneficial to networking and entrepreneur.