In October, senior Meilan Steimle and junior Jacqueline He we named as two of the 166 national finalists in the 2017 YoungArts competition, which received more than 8,000 entries. Both students submitted entries in the short story writing category.

As finalists – the highest honor offered by the National YoungArts Foundation – Steimle and He are eligible to participate in National YoungArts Week, which will take place in Miami in January and provide the opportunity to engage with and learn from industry professionals. They also will be eligible to win up to $10,000 in cash prizes, and considered for nomination to become a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts.

In addition, He recently had her poem, “Death as a Mother,” published in the online literary journal Eunoia Review.