Congratulations to Maxwell “Max” Roh, a fifth grader at The Classical Academy, who earned second place in the 2026 IEW Writing Contest. Max’s award-winning piece explored how a book by Eli Manor transformed his view of math from tedious calculations into an exciting challenge. Inspired by what he learned, Max successfully derived his own formula for Pythagorean triples. An avid reader and creative writer, Max enjoys everything from nonfiction and science fiction to writing silly stories and poems with his younger sister. His interest in writing has grown through his Elementary Writing and Creative Writing classes with teacher Nikki Platt. Max is currently working on a short novel expected to be published early next year, with a book signing to follow.