Northwest Tech student’s letter to author nets her national award
As a young child, Apoorva Chauhan went to the library regularly with her family. She would read favorite books such as “Black Beauty” or the “Percy Jackson & the Olympians” series, which served as “a doorway to new worlds and adventures” when life became tough.
She was 10 when her parents died in a car crash while the family was living in Bakersfield, California, and she tried to comfort herself within the pages of the books she’d loved. However, she couldn’t focus on reading anymore.
Chauhan, now 17 and a senior at Northwest Career and Technical Academy, wrote about the ordeal in her Letters About Literature contest entry. Of the tens of thousands of students who applied in the U.S., she was named the national winner for the third level, which is grades 9-12.
After their parents’ deaths, Chauhan and her now-18-year-old sister Ananya moved in with their father’s younger brother Devendra Singh, his wife and their two sons, who lived in North Las Vegas. She said she struggled throughout middle school with the loss of her parents. The burden didn’t begin to lift until classmate and friend Mason Meyers gave her a book to read in ninth grade.
“The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky, follows the experiences of a socially awkward 15-year-old freshman named Charlie who has to deal with two traumatic deaths of loved ones. Chauhan, who considers herself reserved, related to the character and said she has read the book several times.
So when the teacher in her 11th-grade advanced-placement language and composition class encouraged her to submit an entry in the contest — held by the Library of Congress for fourth- through 12th-graders to read a book, poem or speech and write to the author (living or dead) about how it affected them personally — Chauhan decided to write to Chbosky.
Her former teacher, Samantha Diaz, said 179 of her students submitted entries. Last year, one of her students became a state winner, so she hoped a new contestant would win the national prize. That’s exactly what Chauhan did.
She was given flowers and a $1,000 check Aug. 29 at the Grant Sawyer State Office Building. She said she’s saving the money for college; she hopes to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Elise Choi and Charlotte Thaler of Las Vegas also won awards.
Chauhan’s family and Diaz attended the award ceremony.
“(I think she won) because of the rawness of her emotion,” Diaz said. “It was the honesty, and we knew right away that it was an outstanding piece. I suggested some edits and she took some, and didn’t take some of the others, which is something that I’m proud of her for. She was confident in her work, which I commend her for.”
Diaz said she read the piece to each of her classes and managed not to cry only when she presented it to Chauhan’s class.
Her aunt Sarita Singh said her family in Las Vegas and India is proud.
Chauhan, who is one of three girls studying in the mechanical technology program at Northwest, said she wants to become a mechanical engineer.
Contact Kailyn Brown at kbrown@viewnews.com or 702-387-5233. Follow @kailynhype on Twitter.
What she wrote
To read Apporva Chauhan’s letter, visit read.gov.
