Over the summer, RSPS 8th grade student Lauren Puryear celebrated her National Best In Grade Award for her poem, Corroded Heart, at Carnegie Hall with other winners and the Board of Directors and Donors for 2018 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Her piece was selected from 350,000 submissions, placing her within the top 1 percent, and it was showcased at the Pratt Institute’s Pratt Manhattan Gallery. Lauren’s poem can be found in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Annual National Catalog and The Best Teen Writing. Award recipients have also appeared in Scholastic Inc. Publications including The Best Young Writers & Artists in America (PUSH), Scope magazine, Junior Scholastic magazine, Scholastic Artmagazine, and New York Times Upfront magazine.