When Brooke Archer, who will be a senior at Coronado High School during the 2016-2017 school year, first started writing The Way to You, she had no idea that her novel would turn her into an award winning author. While she had already written a number of short stories, this was Brooke’s first novel, and it earned her two Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. On June 2, 2016 Brooke was given the Gold Key and Gold Medal awards at the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards ceremony in New York City. (The Gold Key is a regional award. Gold Key awards from across the country are then judged against one another, and from there, Gold Medal awards are given, which means that Brooke’s novel was deemed to be the best of the best regionally and then recognized again on the national level.)
The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, according to their website, “have recognized the vision, ingenuity, and talent of our nation’s youth, and provided opportunities for creative teens to be celebrated. Each year, increasing numbers of teens participate in the program, and become a part of our community—young artists and writers, filmmakers and photographers, poets and sculptors, video game artists and science fiction writers, along with countless educators who support and encourage the creative process.”
Presented by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, a nonprofit organization, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards “identify students with exceptional artistic and literary talent and present their remarkable work to the world.” Previous recipients include writers Sylvia Plath, Truman Capote, Bernard Malamud, Myla Goldberg, and Joyce Carol Oates to name a few.
This year Brooke’s novel was one of nearly 320,000 original works submitted from across the nation. “Teens in grades 7 through 12 from public, private, or home schools can apply in 29 categories of art and writing for their chance to earn scholarships and have their works exhibited and published.”
The Way to You is a young adult contemporary novel about two teenagers, Carter and Marley, who are involved in a single-car accident. Brooke says, “It’s kind of the aftermath; the story about their lives after the accident. On the one side there’s Carter, who was the one who swerved in the first place so he has the blame for the accident. On the other side there’s Marley, who loses her leg and her best friend in the car crash. It follows them through the next year and a half of their lives as they try to get back to normal.”
The novel, which Brooke is in the process of trying to get published, is about 58,000 words, or the equivalent of 225 pages in length, which is extremely impressive, especially considering that she is still in high school! Brooke didn’t write her story because it was a school assignment; she wrote it independently because she’s always been passionate about writing.
The inspiration for her story came from a video about drunk driving that Brooke watched in her NJROTC class (Navy Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps). “It was a flash, and I thought, ‘I could write about this.’ I get inspiration from weird places,” she admits. Brooke had a number of stories that she had started but never finished, but something about that video in class really resonated with her, and when she got home that day, she started writing.
When she first started brainstorming, Carter’s drunk driving was initially going to be the cause of the crash. After doing research, however, she realized that the legal ramifications of drunk driving would have most likely resulted in Carter being jailed, so she altered the cause of the accident.
Who are Brooke’s writing role models? She answers, “My favorite authors are mostly young adult because that’s primarily what I read. Maggie Stiefvater and Lauren Oliver kind of inspired me when I was younger. I loved their writing styles and the way they wrote stories so my goal was to write a book that’s as good as theirs.”
Brooke, who hadn’t been to New York City since she was little, was thrilled to have the chance to return there for the awards ceremony in Carnegie Hall. “It was really, really cool. Carnegie Hall was gorgeous! All of the award winners were seated in the front.” “Surreal” is the word she uses to describe the moment when everyone stood up to clap for her as she won her Gold Medal.
What does it mean to Brooke to receive these honors, which have been awarded to talented teens like her since 1923? “I think it’s just letting me know that I’m good enough. I think every artist has that problem, thinking, ‘Am I good enough at this? Am I going to do anything with this?’ For me to be there with other people who were being nationally recognized made me think, ‘Oh, maybe I am good at this.’ It just helped me solidify that’s what I want to do, and that’s what I want to be,” she shares. Brooke made friends and connections with people from all over the country, who “were artistic people like me so that was kind of cool,” she adds.
With college on the horizon and impressive awards under her belt, it’s surprising to learn that Brooke isn’t planning on declaring herself as an English major once she graduates from high school. “I’m looking into nursing right now because I know I could do the whole writing thing, but I don’t really want to be a starving artist. I know it’s kind of hard to make it in that field [writing]. I figure I’ll get a consistent job that pays well, and then write on the side. If writing takes off, I could go do that full time. I don’t want to get stuck with a degree I can’t do anything with,” she says, showing her maturity as she researches potential degrees. While Brooke doesn’t have her heart set on any specific type of nursing just yet, she says she has an interest in pediatric nursing because she likes to work with kids. “I think that would be fun,” she says with a smile.
Where does Brooke see herself in ten years? “Hopefully with a book published,” she answers. “Ideally I’d be writing more books, doing book tours and stuff like that, but realistically I’m just hoping to have a good job, be in a good place, and still be able to write.”
Brooke, whose father is in the Navy, has moved eleven times already, and it’s evident that wherever she finds herself ten years from now, she will continue to be a success. She may have only lived in Coronado for the last year and a half, but she’s already made her mark here as an accomplished writer, an NJROTC cadet, and a member of the swim team. She’s lived in Texas, Florida, Maine, Rhode Island, Washington, and California, and she has an impressive poise that comes with being such a well-traveled young lady.
Brooke is thankful to her teacher Breanne Carlisle, who was the educator who signed off on Brooke’s novel for the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. “She was just really supportive throughout the whole thing. I know it was kind of crazy because she was on maternity leave. She was pregnant when I asked, ‘Could you be my educator for this?’ She was totally down to do it, and I was really happy because I was super nervous. I had written a lot of the stuff in her class because we had little writing times. She was okay with it, and she signed it.” Ms. Carlisle was already out on maternity leave when Brooke emailed her to tell her teacher that her novel won, and Brooke was thrilled to get a heartfelt response back from her teacher.
Does Brooke have a message for anyone else? “To anyone who has a dream like that, just because it’s not sports related and your dream isn’t in the norm, that doesn’t mean that your talent isn’t special or cool. If you like it, then do it because you could end up in Carnegie Hall. I never thought I would be there!”
After attending the awards ceremony and meeting people from all over the country, Brooke realized that the Scholastic Arts & Writing Awards are a much bigger deal on the east coast than on the west coast. Students in Boston who won were celebrated with rallies at their respective schools, whereas “no one really knows about the competition here,” she notes. She’s hopeful that Coronado students who learn about her awards will be roused to pursue their own passions in whichever categories they are interested just as she did with her passion of writing. “I think it would be cool to get it [Scholastic Arts & Writing Awards] more popular here because it’s a really good opportunity. There’s a lot of scholarship money for seniors and recognition.”
Is Brooke already anticipating next year’s awards? “Yes, definitely,” she says. “I’m already writing ideas down. There are a lot of categories so I’m just trying to figure out which ones I want to do.” Expect to read more great work from Brooke, who says she’s “been obsessively writing a lot,” but also stay tuned to see which other talents she discovers within herself. It’s exciting seeing how many possibilities are within her grasp, and it’s just a matter of time before a new passion reveals itself. Who knows? Whatever creative interests Brooke unearths, whether they are award winning or not, the people of Coronado should continue to be proud of her.
Additional Information:
To view the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Facebook page click here.
To see a complete list of the Regional Gold Key, National Gold Medal, and National Silver Medal award recipients for the 2016 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards for “Novel Writing” click here.
