Students Win Sci-Fi Writing Award
Two fifth graders from P.S. 176 in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, wrote such compelling science fiction short stories that they won the chance to go Iowa, where they'll attend an international problem-solving conference.
Karen Li and Fei Yang Zheng were, respectively, the first and second place winners of a short story competition run by Future Problem Solving Program International. They left for Iowa State University on Wednesday where the group is holding its annual conference.
Leslie Blaustein, a teacher and media specialist at P.S. 176, said the honor was especially meaningful because her two students were bilingual, having mastered English not so long ago, in addition to their native Mandarin.
“I’ve seen so much growth in them, in terms of their writing, in their ability to pose questions, write questions,” Blaustein told WNYC.
The students wrote short stories about enhancing human potential, set nearly 50 years into the future. Li wrote a story about cyborgs — part human, part machine or robot — and what Alzheimer’s treatment may look like in the year 2064. Li’s classmate Zheng wrote about a mad scientist who sets out to patent a muscle enhancer, and travels in a rocket.
Blaustein said the students read futuristic novels by author Marissa Meyer in preparation for writing the essays.
Zheng and Li are two of over 2,000 participants from 11 countries who will attend the International Future Problem Solving Conference.
