On Saturday March 29, the fifth-annual Sullivan County Youth Poetry Festival took place at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. The event was organized by current Sullivan County Poet Laureate Kevin Graham in the event gallery surrounded by the Sullivan County Art Show. Before the event, students in an ensemble band called the Bethel Woods Rock Camp Ambassadors played some cover songs as poets and supporters arrived. Monticello had the largest turn out of students who submitted poems this year. The afternoon was an inspiring display of art, music, and poetry from Sullivan County students with support in attendance from families, school administrators, teachers, and community members all in awe of what amazing things these young people can do. The festival always coincides with the countywide art show sponsored by BOCES so if you missed it, make sure to check it out next year. Below are the Panther Poets and the titles of the poems they submitted. Students in bold were acknowledged as Poets of Distinction and will receive a certificate.
Robert J. Kaiser Panther Poets:
Aleshani Auletta “I Love You”
Alex Ganz “Weeping Willow”
Mya’lee Burns “A Voice Inside”
Ariel Aracci “Blooming Grace”
Sophia Keller “Friends”
Monticello High School Panther Poets
Sierra Auletta “Goodbye”
Zuzanna Mierzwa “Another Year – Old Me”
Victoria Falevich “I Taught You How to Speak English”
Veronica Parrilla Beach “Why?”
Malia Saint-Eloi “The American Flag” “I Love You, But You Don’t Understand Me” “The Americans”
Julia Wysokinska “Bleeding Seether”
De’Anna Livingston “I Feel Numb” “In the Stillness of My Heart”
Gavin Shupe “The Path”
Xyaira Brown “The Sound of my Alarm”
Jennifer DeGraw “Will to Live”
