VEX Personal Essay Challenge
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
VEX Personal Essay Challenge provides an opportunity for VEX roboticists to showcase the depth of their engagement in robotics and receive recognition for their experience and knowledge at a national level. Through the process of systematically preparing for this competition, students will learn how to effectively and compellingly articulate their thoughts about a STEM-based subject area. Our program will guide students through the writing process to develop competitive essays, including brainstorming for impact and relevance, narrowing topics to ensure depth of detail, and editing to develop a bright luster to their writing.
Duration: 6 weeks, 2 hours per week
Key Areas of Development:
Generating and evaluating ideas for their relevance to a specific prompt.
Developing strategies to shape ideas for impact.
Learning to write with greater vitality.
What Makes This Program Exceptional
Personalized Attention: Classes will be limited to 5 students or fewer, permitting instructors to assess and address individual student needs.
Engaging Methods: Interactive teaching styles adapted to the unique abilities of each student to encourage participation and confidence in ability.
Structured Approach: Our program is designed to help students learn a structured approach to writing and teach them how to evaluate the effectiveness of their writing in terms of the basics elements that contribute to good writing.
Focus on Critical Thinking: Our program is designed to develop systematic thinking and writing expression to effectively deliver competition-worthy writing that will help students shine.
Achievian’s Competitive Writing Series offers venues for young writers to test their skills as well as establish themselves as competitive thinkers. These programs develop different aspects of writing, including argumentation, logic, and figurative language.
Lead Instructor
Ms. Sarah Clayton
Sarah Clayton is a former journalist and seasoned educator with over 20 years' experience, helping students excel in academic writing. She provides expert instruction in critical reading, analytical writing, and problem-solving strategies, ensuring students perform at their highest potential.
Sarah employs Socratic teaching methods to ensure student engagement and identify the degree of knowledge and skill students already possess. She then tailors instruction to reinforce strengths and address the individual needs of her students. She is very experienced at breaking down complex subjects into easily understandable instruction. Through these strategies, she builds student confidence and seeds creativity. With a Ph.D. from the University of Washington and years of experience in education and journalism, she provides students with the skills they need to excel academically and gain admission to the nation’s most prestigious institutions.