O’Gorman senior Dru Collins has taken her writing to the next level. After submitting two of her essays to the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, Collins received an American Voices nomination.

Collins’ essay, “How Will South Dakota Handle the Teen Mental Health Crisis?” won a gold key, the highest ranking award which earned her this nomination. Her other essay, “Nightmare on 36th Street” won a silver key.

On March 3, Collins received her awards at a ceremony held at the University of South Dakota where she had the privilege of reading her gold key essay aloud.

Collins is grateful for the guidance of the O’Gorman English faculty. “I’m specifically grateful to Mr. Heisler,” Collins said. “His freedom of essay topics allowed me to pick a topic I was passionate about.”

Collins hopes to be one of the five writers selected from each state to win the overall nomination. The winners will then travel to New York City for an awards ceremony at Carnegie Hall.