Winning teens join poets Alan Semerdjian, Patti Tana, and Steven Licardi in April 21 reading at Walt Whitman Birthplace
Melville, NY -- The Huntington Town Board recently recognized 17 teen poets from the community selected for participation in the Town’s Poetry for the HART Public Art Initiative, presenting the winners with certificates signed by members of the Huntington Town Board in an award ceremony presided over by Councilwoman Susan A. Berland at the Walt Whitman Birthplace.
Immediately following the April 21 award ceremony was a poetry reading led by poets Patti Tana and Steven Licardi (two of the jurors who selected the winning poems) and featured poet Alan Semerdjian, at which the teen poets selected for the program had an opportunity to read their winning poems. A brief reception followed the reading.
The winning teens and the poems selected for display are:
• Jason Argeseanu, "Inanimate Ignorance" (Walt Whitman High School, Grade 12, Age 17)
• Jessica Bansbach, "He's a Musician" (Walt Whitman High School, Grade 12, Age 17)
• Julia Canigiani, "Some Fears" (Walt Whitman High School, Grade 12, Age 17)
• Kelsey De Rosa, "Be Brave and Be Kind" (Walt Whitman High School, Grade 12, Age 17)
• Jocelyn Early-Hubelbank, "Huntington" (Harborfields High School, Grade 10, Age 15)
• Taylor Fox, "The Politics of Poetry" (Walt Whitman High School, Grade 12, Age 17)
• Shayna Greene, 2 poems: "Outline" & "Welcome" (Walt Whitman High School, Grade 12, Age 18)
• Gabrielle Jung, "Practically Pathological" (Half Hollow Hills High School West, Grade 12, Age 17)
• Bailey Kaston, "Why Proper Grammar Really Does Matter" (Half Hollow Hills High School East, Grade 12, Age 17)
• Emma Kongevold, "Toughts of a Child Inventor" (Walt Whitman High School, Grade 12, Age 18)
• Wayne Koziatek, "Home Sweet Home" (Walt Whitman High School, Grade 12, Age 18)
• Michaela Marino, "Rain" (Half Hollow Hills High School West, Grade 9, Age 14)
• Faith McIntosh, "Golden" (Walt Whitman High School, Grade 12, Age 18)
• Lilly Milman, "The Color of Absolutes" (Half Hollow Hills High School West, Grade 12, Age 17)
• Ingrid Oliva, "Refugees" (Huntington High School, Grade 11, Age 16)
• Gabrielle Ramirez, "L-O-V-E" (Walt Whitman High School, Grade 12, Age 17)
• Lauren Sager, "Look Up" (Our Lady of Mercy Academy, Grade 10, Age 16)
Poetry for the HART is a Public Art Initiative project developed by the Town’s Public Art Advisory Committee in conjunction with Teenspeak, Co-Lead Agency, who suggested the project to the Town. Teens in the community from ages 14-18 were invited last fall to submit poems for consideration in the program. A selection panel comprised of the poets Patti Tana, and Steven Licardi, joined by Jim Metcalfe, a member of the Town’s Public Art Advisory Committee, were charged with reviewing the 147 different submissions from 113 different teen poets and narrowing the choices to the 18 winning poems by 17 different teen poets. Additional partners in this project include Heckscher Museum of Art; Huntington Arts Council; The Long Islander, which has pledged to publish the winning poems; REACH CYA; Town of Huntington Youth Bureau; Tri-Community Youth Agency; the award reception host – Walt Whitman Birthplace Association; and Youth Directions & Alternatives CYA, as well as numerous area teachers who actively encouraged their students’ participation. Colorful placards, each bearing a winning poem, will soon be placed in the interior advertising spaces on buses throughout the HART system. Information on previous winners of the Poetry for the HART program and their winning poems can be found at www.HuntingtonNY.gov/HARTpoetry.
The text of the winning poems is available upon request. For further information on Poetry for the HART or other Town of Huntington Public Art Initiative projects, contact John Coraor, Director of Cultural Affairs, at 631-351-3099 or via e-mail: jcoraor@HuntingtonNY.gov.
In the photo: Councilwoman Susan Berland (back row, far left) recognizes on behalf of the Huntington Town Board the winning teen poets in the 2016 Poetry for the HART program: (back row, from left to right) Lauren Sager, Jocelyn Early-Hubelbank, and Taylor Fox, (front row) Jason Argeseanu, Jessica Bansbach, Emma Kongevold, Wayne Koziatek, Lilly Milman, Gabrielle Ramirez, Shayna Greene, and Ingrid Oliva. (Not pictured: Julia Canigiani, Kelsey De Rosa, Gabrielle Jung, Bailey Kaston, Michaela Marino, and Faith McIntosh.)