RJK and MHS students participate in Youth Poetry Festival

On Sunday, April 14th, The Third Annual Youth Poetry Festival took place at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. Students all over Sullivan County submit original poems which were voted on by a panel of judges.  Prizes were awarded in grade level categories. Students in Mr. Gold’s Poets and Writer’s Club submitted poems as well as high school students from Mrs. Schombs’ classes. 

Below are the Monticello poets who submitted their work, the title of their poem, and any awards or honors they received.
Grades 7-8
Aleshani Aulette “Mirror/Mushrooms Growing on My Head”
Zayana McSwain “My Mental”
Grades 9-10
Kenny Walz     “Family, The Tie that Binds us All”
Aaliyah Hyma  “I Can Feel the Heat Rising”
Jhoana Mercad   “Love His Soul”
Johnuel Soto Guzman “I Wake Up…”
Emily Pine     “These Two Musicals”
Lyn-Marie Jackson   “Til I Met Him”
Xyaira Brown   “Untitled”
Gavin Shupe   “Peace”
Isabella Loucks   “What’s Pretty?”
Luis Parilla Beach   “24 Hours in a Day”
Veronica Parilla Beach   “Fitting In”
Raven Morin  “Roses Are Red…”
Jesse Gonzalez Santos  “Legos”
First Place Winner:
 
Jennifer DeGraw  “Dear Blue-Eyed Lady”
 
Third Place Winner:
 
Gabriela Almonte   “Cuerpo”
 
Honorable Mention:
 
Ariela Reyes   “If Only I Could Know”
 
Grades 11-12
 
Morris German    “Where Do I Stand?”
Victoria Falevich  “Borders of Passion”
Uriel Rodriguez  “In a Garden Where Dreams Unfurl”
Mikey Schnitzer, Jr. “My Sport”
Jada Lawson  “You Aren’t Sorry”
Belle Zhou   “Mountain of Growth”
Julia Wysokinska  “Layers”
Rinesa Gashi   “Endless Dance”
Fadil Redzematovic  “Stars”
Justo DelValle, Jr.  “Alone in the Gym at Night”
Carlos Torres Hernandez  “In the Witching Hour’s Deep Embrace”
Vaidi Patel   “When Death Comes”
Messiah Reddick  “Spread My Wings”
Megan Bastone   “Coming Upon My Seventeenth Year”
De’Nasia Banks   “All About Me”
Claudia Corces   “Borders”
3rd Place
Ash Flores   “Breaking Down the Walls”
Honorable Mention
 
Rudy Luna Maravilla  “Bed and Table”
Zuzanna Mierwzwa  “A Painting Forged by Lines”
Deeanna Mann    “Are You Okay?”

Listen to third-place winner Gabriela Almonte recite her poem, Cuerpo: