Harvey Poetry Contest Winners Selected

Harvey Poetry Contest Winners Selected

A three-judge panel selected the winners of the annual Michael Lopes Poetry Recitation Contest held April 5 in the school’s Lasdon Theater.

The first-place trophy in the upper school went to junior Giselle Garcia with ninth-grader Mia Cornell selected as the runner-up. Top honors among the middle school finalists went to seventh-grader Marley Shyer.

Garcia, competing against eight other upper school finalists, won the trophy for her performance of “Latino-Americanos: The Children of Oscuro Pasado” by Xochitl Morales. Cornell received an honorable mention for her reading of “Happy” by Dottie James. Shyer, who was among six middle school finalists, took top honors for her recitation of “Dear Society” whose author is anonymous.

This year’s 15 finalists were chosen after a schoolwide competition that started in English class, progressed to semifinals and moved on to the final competition. Other finalists included local residents, seventh-grader Noam Cohen-Weinberg of Cross River, eighth-grader Cody Siegel of Katonah and senior Sarah McLean of South Salem.

The judges were Rev. Merle McJunkin, pastor of Antioch Baptist Church in Bedford Hills, Julie Nord, poet, editor, and classical singer, and Scott Mason, author and editor.