Newark (New Jersey) Student Awarded National Writing Prize

Annual Pathways to College literary magazine highlights creativity of 29 young writers and artists

Pathways to College has named Samuel Aristich of East Side High School (Newark, NJ) as the winner in the nonprofit after-school program’s 2024 issue of its annual literary magazine, Scholar Voices. Aristich’s poem is titled, “Fight.”

The 2024 issue of Scholar Voices features original art and writing by 29 Scholars, some of whom are now alumni, representing high schools in Arkansas, Indiana, and New Jersey. This year’s genres are essay, photography, poetry, rap, and short story.

“Not only does this issue share the insightful observations and concerns of our current Scholars, but it also allows us a glimpse of what was on the minds and in the hearts of alumni from our first two editions of Scholar Voices, published in 2010 and 2011,” said Pathways to College Founder and President Judith Berry Griffin. “What anxieties, hopes, and joys concerned and delighted them then, and do so now?”

Submissions are reviewed by jury including published authors and teachers of English and language arts. The winner will receive a gift card worth $100. Print copies of Scholar Voices are being distributed to awardees, all Scholars, program teachers, and donors.

To recognize the gifts and talents of each student, their interests, and their multifaceted ways of self-expression, Pathways to College has been honoring the creativity of Scholars since the early 1990s, when Pathways was in development at A Better Chance.

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Contact: Alyssa Alston, Director of Communications | communications@pathwaystocollege.org | 202-924-1691

Pathways to College is an after-school program providing information, guidance and support to help African American and other students of color become the best high school students, college applicants and college students they can be to prepare for lifelong success. Although we welcome all students of color, we focus on under-served African American high school students, whose potential has been marginalized for generations.