Norwich poets published, win championship in slam
TREADWELL – The Norwich High School poetry team were victorious at a recent Bright Hill Press Share the Words Annual High School Poetry Slam. It was the 11th year in a row that they have taken the championship.
The all-day competition, held May 14 at Bright Hill’s Literary Center in Treadwell, featured students from Catskill area high schools, but was also open to high schools throughout the state. Students were required to compete in three out of four categories: current events/relationship poems, nature poems, performance poetry and formal poetry. It was a two-round, single elimination competition.
In the nature category, Norwich High School sophomores Patty McNeil took first place and Stephanie Todd took second place. Juniors Michael McBride took second place in the performance category and Chris Symonds took second place in current events/relationship. Also competing were senior Shams Harper and freshman Nuri Harper. All of the students’ scores contributed to the team’s championship.
Sophomore Alexis Jaycox (also in the photo above) did not compete at the slam, but was one of four Norwich High School students whose poems were recently selected to be published in The Apprentice Writer, a publication of the Writer’s Institute at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Penn. They were: Jaycox, McNeil, Nuri Harper and Symonds.
The publication, known as the most competitive and prestigious journal of high school poetry and short prose in the Northeast, received 3,000 submissions from students in 13 states. It accepted 70 poets to be published this year, including four from Norwich High School. This is McNeil’s second poem to be selected for The Apprentice Writer.
The slam competitors and poets are enrolled in Norwich High School English teacher Richard Bernstein’s poetry elective.
“This is a major accomplishment for these students. Every year I’m surprised by the quality of the students’ work. Just when I don’t think the poetry can get any better, it does. They are talented, they’re disciplined and they work hard,” said Bernstein, who has been a teacher at the school since 1986.
The all-day competition, held May 14 at Bright Hill’s Literary Center in Treadwell, featured students from Catskill area high schools, but was also open to high schools throughout the state. Students were required to compete in three out of four categories: current events/relationship poems, nature poems, performance poetry and formal poetry. It was a two-round, single elimination competition.
In the nature category, Norwich High School sophomores Patty McNeil took first place and Stephanie Todd took second place. Juniors Michael McBride took second place in the performance category and Chris Symonds took second place in current events/relationship. Also competing were senior Shams Harper and freshman Nuri Harper. All of the students’ scores contributed to the team’s championship.
Sophomore Alexis Jaycox (also in the photo above) did not compete at the slam, but was one of four Norwich High School students whose poems were recently selected to be published in The Apprentice Writer, a publication of the Writer’s Institute at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Penn. They were: Jaycox, McNeil, Nuri Harper and Symonds.
The publication, known as the most competitive and prestigious journal of high school poetry and short prose in the Northeast, received 3,000 submissions from students in 13 states. It accepted 70 poets to be published this year, including four from Norwich High School. This is McNeil’s second poem to be selected for The Apprentice Writer.
The slam competitors and poets are enrolled in Norwich High School English teacher Richard Bernstein’s poetry elective.
“This is a major accomplishment for these students. Every year I’m surprised by the quality of the students’ work. Just when I don’t think the poetry can get any better, it does. They are talented, they’re disciplined and they work hard,” said Bernstein, who has been a teacher at the school since 1986.
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