Nicholas (Nicky) Turchan, a current seventh grader at Chagrin Falls Middle School, was chosen as a finalist for Scholastic’s Scope’s First-Line Fiction Contest 2022-2023. Scholastic received hundreds of entries from students around the country, and Nicholas’ story submission stood out.
His story, “The New Neighbor,” was submitted last year when he was in Heather Heartz’s gifted English language arts class at Chagrin Falls Intermediate School as an additional assignment. “With Mrs. Heartz’s encouragement and confidence in Nicky’s writing, he grew a lot last year and this was a wonderful achievement for him,” said his mom, Lynn Turchan.
Scholastic asked students to write an imaginative, compelling, original short story that started with one of three first lines written by famous author Claribel A. Ortega. Ortega was the one that selected Turchan as a finalist. His story was about a character, Jack, who met a new neighbor, Sara, who turned out to be a ghost.