Poetry contest provides a space for creative and personal expression for students

Friday, June 9 marks the completion and celebration of Newfield’s townwide poetry contest, with a celebration at Aiosa Auditorium. 

Participants include 55 students from Newfield schools and homeschooled students from the area who will read aloud their submitted poems at the event. The poems will be up for special mention by three New York authors: poet and teacher Carolyn Clark; poet, author and former editor Elaine Cervantes; and musician and writer-poet Eva Marques.  

Marques, a local writer-poet who coordinated the event, said that she was motivated to create a forum of expression for local youth through writing after she noticed that students had lost an ability to express themselves in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I would ask them a question, and they had this look of terror on their face. They were really afraid to speak or afraid to express themselves,” Marques said. “We need to find a way to give kids their voice again to be able to find a way to express themselves.”

The submitted poems include a variety of topics, such as family, love, hate, kindness, beauty and many others.

Elisa Rodriguez, an academic intervention specialist for reading for the Newfield Central School District (NCSD) and a coordinator for the poetry event, said that poetry is a great medium for people to get into writing and creativity.

“Poetry is a very accessible medium. It can be as short as you want it to be. It doesn’t have to rhyme. It doesn’t have to have any sort of meter,” Rodriguez said. “We were looking for a way our students could express themselves and feel camaraderie and have a creative outlet.”

Marques expressed that there will be no “winners” in the event. Rather, the experience of sharing their poetry is participants’ true gold medal. Even though there will be prizes and raffles for the students, the true win is their accomplishment in writing a poem, editing it, completing a final draft and submitting it.

“This isn’t an athletic event where someone crosses the finish line first or wins the most touchdowns. Every student expressed thoughts and feelings that were meaningful to them, so actually, all students ‘won’ by developing a new skill and finding their voice,” Marques said. 

All of the participants have been given the opportunity to have their submitted poems published. 

“It’s a lot of motivation just to have your work published, especially so young,” Rodriguez said. “Being able to see that is a good foundational, inspirational point for students to keep moving forward. … It’s just fun to be able to have a little celebration at the end of the year to do something you’re into and get recognized for something.”

Marques said that in addition to finding their voices and a new medium of personal expression, participants also gain the opportunity to build a sense of community through their writing. Having an event such as the poetry contest demonstrates the value that young people can have in the Newfield community.

“Having the ability to share their writings and celebrate that they wrote something affirms the value of our youth and what an important resource they are to the community,” Marques said. 

The Newfield poetry contest was not a part of the school curriculum or NSCD programs. Rather, it was funded with grants from Staples, CSP Management, CFCU Community Credit Union, Wegmans, Tioga State Bank, Rosita Gunter and others. 

“Being able to partner with other local businesses has been wonderful,” Rodriguez said. “Being able to bring everyone together for something is really beneficial.”

“I think in people’s heart of hearts everyone is a poet,” Marques said. “It gives everyone an opportunity to develop those things and create harder, wiser, richer people for it – rich in culture, rich in the ability to think.” 

The Newfield poetry contest will be held June 9 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Poems by 55 participants will be reviewed for special mention by three New York authors: poet and teacher Carolyn Clark; poet, author and former editor Elaine Cervantes; and writer-poet Evelyn Marques.

Newfield Notes appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com.