34 Marie Curie Institute students to become published poets

Thirty-four students from the Marie Curie Institute of Engineering and Communications will become published poets later this year.

The students’ poems were chosen from among thousands of entries and will be included in the 2008 edition of “A Celebration of Young Poets,” a book of poems written by K-12 students from around the country.

The anthology is published annually by Creative Communications Inc., a Utah-based company. Since 1993, the company has organized an annual poetry contest, and more than 10,000 schools participate each year. The winning poems are published in the anthology. The contest has no entry fee, and neither students nor schools are required to buy copies of the book for their poems to be published.

More than half of the poems submitted by Marie Curie students were chosen for publication, and the number of its students’ poem chosen was among the top 10 percent of schools from New York State. For that, the school was awarded the Poetic Achievement Award, given to schools whose entries to the Poetry Contest “were of exceptionally high merit,” according to the award.

“This is a wonderful example of the work our students are capable of doing,” said Principal Mary Mathey.

The students chose to write about a variety of topics, such as Thanksgiving, football, Elvis Presley, and books.

Of the 34 Marie Curie students whose poems will be included in the book, 16 are in Jerilynn Einarsson’s second-grade class, 13 are in Linda Sawicki’s third-grade class, and five are in Theresa Featherstone’s fifth-grade class.

“This is a fantastic example of the strength of our arts program, as well as an example of what extraordinary, young poets we have,” Einarsson said.

The anthology will be published later this year, probably in the fall, according to the Creative Communications Web site. The anthology is professionally bound, and the poems are published with each student’s name, grade, school and state.

The Amsterdam Board of Education will honor the school and its poets at its meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 27.
 

Below is a list of students and their poems chosen for publication:

 

Second Grade - Jerilynn Einarsson, teacher (top photo)

Haley - Rufus

Vanessa Bellamy - Toys

Carlie Marie Bennett - Angela

Maria Bottisti - Costumes

Jeromy Espinoza - Marines

Armanhi Feliciano - Books

Tyler Froke - Mrs.E.

Daniel Gentile - Elvis Presley

Brian Guilder - Stacey

Ciara Negron - Art Work

Marcus Nieuwkerk - Toys

Alyssa M. Orengo - Songs

Jacob Preville - Toy Cars

K'iana Prusky - Christy

Keisha Torres - Kiana

Wesley Williams - Beth

Third Grade - Linda Sawicki, teacher (middle photo)

Hope Adair - Thanksgiving

Johan Barquero - Turkey

Brandon Cordero - Turkey

Morgan Durinick - Thanksgiving

Khiara Feliciano - Thanksgiving

Matthew Russo Jemmott - Turkey

Paloma Malave-Reyes - Thanksgiving

Lynoska Morales - Thanksgiving

Genesis Morales - Thanksgiving

Tanisha Muniz - Thanksgiving

Anthony Nimmo - Thanksgiving

Cyan Rivera - Thanksgiving

Ryan Rivera - Thanksgiving

Fifth Grade - Theresa Featherstone, teacher (bottom photo)

Alissa Lasher - Fall

Alexander Lotman - Fall

Mileidy Mala - Football

Mikayla Noack - Fall

Marshland Santiago - Why I Love Fall