Gruszynski Selected to Attend Governor's Honors Program in Communicative Arts

Greensboro, Ga. (June 22, 2021) – Lake Oconee Academy (LOA) rising senior Gabrielle “Gabby” Gruszynski, who served as the managing editor in the 2020-2021 school year of LOA’s literary magazine The Archetype, recently had the honor of having two of her original pieces, "Our Roots" and "The Witching Hour," published in a national literary magazine, Shambles: A Literary Journal. The magazine is released through LP Publishing.

"Our Roots" was written in Mrs. Caroline St. John’s creative writing class. After watching Amanda Gorman's recitation of her 2021 inaugural poem and all of the other inaugural poems that are recorded on video throughout history, the students were challenged to write an Inaugural Poem to signify an ending and a beginning.  Gabby’s poem portrays a time in the future when the country elects its first female President and Vice President.

“As her creative writing teacher, I have never been more sure that a student will use their writing to shape the world,” said Mrs. St. John. “We will see her name in the press one day. Our literary magazine staff is thrilled to cheer on Gabby as her audience grows.”

Her other literary awards include a regional Gold Key for the prestigious Scholastic Arts & Writing Awards for a nonfiction scholarly essay earlier this year titled “The Disney Princess Debacle” and consecutive district first-place finishes in the Young Georgia Authors writing competition for her pieces “Seven Deadly Sins” and “Of Heaven and Earth: A Collection of Poetry” respectively.

Gruszynski was also selected out of over 3,000 state-level nominees to attend the Georgia Governor's Honors Program (GHP) this summer in Communicative Arts. GHP is a residential summer program hosted at Berry College for gifted and artistically talented high school students who will be rising juniors and seniors. The program offers instruction, significantly different from the typical high school classroom, designed to provide students with academic, cultural, and social enrichment necessary to become the next generation of global critical thinkers, innovators, and leaders.

Gruszynski’s seriousness for her writing career has led her to want to pursue writing outside of her formal education. In college, Gabrielle hopes to study English, International Studies, or Broadcast Journalism and would love to work for the United Nations in the future.