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Society for Technical Communication Honors Local Students for Writing Excellence
(Sixth Annual Technical Writing Competition)

The Orlando Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication (STC) honored 19 Central Florida high school students and an undergraduate in the technical communication program at the University of Central Florida at its annual awards banquet April 23 at the Winter Park Civic Center. The keynote speaker was Pat Duggins, news director of 90.7 FM.

The high school honorees were the authors of the top papers in the Sixth Annual Florida High School Technical Writing Competition, sponsored by the Orlando Chapter. The UCF award was a scholarship from the Melissa Pellegrin Memorial Scholarship Fund, which honors the memory of a 1994 UCF graduate and Orlando STC Chapter member.

The top two writing contest awards went to a pair of seniors, Mark Donahue of Lake Mary High School and Sean Samuelson of Cocoa Beach Junior/Senior High School. Each received an Excellence award and a $150 cash prize. Donahue's essay was entitled "ATP Synthase: Evolution's Bioenergetic Water Wheel"; Samuelson wrote on "Cryptography: A Description of the RSA Public Key Encrption Algorithm, Weaknesses, Strengths, and Longevity."

A $600 Pellegrin scholarship was presented to junior Ana Marichal "for excellence in technical writing and understanding of and commitment to the profession."

A pair of sophomores from Lake Brantley, Jenica Heintzelman and Daniel Mahfood, captured Merit awards and $75 prizes for their essays, "Migraines in Adolescents" and "Pre-Natal Testing," respectively. Heintzelman's essay went on to capture an Honorable Mention in the international high school technical writing competition sponsored by STC — the only Florida entry to be thus recognized this year.

In addition to the four Excellence and Merit awards, the local chapter presented eight Achievement awards with $25 prizes and seven Honorable Mentions.

Half of the Achievement awards went to Lake Brantley sophomores: Ross Asdourian, Jennifer Blank, Corey Forbus, and Rachel Zelkowitz. The others went to Winter Springs H.S. freshman Andrew Lai, Titusville H.S. junior Parth Modi, Astronaut H.S. junior Anant Patel, and Tavares H.S. senior Kristen Noble.