What a year it has been for Paint Branch Senior Tari Owei.

Over the last few months, Owei has been on quite a run as a writer, winning two prestigious awards for her work. Most recently, she won the F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Award and spent a Saturday at the festival in Rockville, where she took part in a day-long celebration with noted authors.  The Scholar of the Year was noted author, storyteller, and radio personality Garrison Keillor, and Owei and the other MCPS scholars had the opportunity to spend three hours with him in a writer’s workshop.

This award came on the heels of another writing award that Owei received in the spring that garnered her not only an award but also a $10,000 scholarship. Owei was one of just a handful of Maryland students to win the award and scholarship for her essay response to the question: “What does the American Dream mean to you and is it still thriving in Greater Washington?”

It is safe to say that this past year been quite a time for Owei, her family, her teachers here at Paint Branch, and the entire PB Community.

Check out the December issue of Mainstream for a longer piece about Tari and her winning ways.