By Jim Beers, contributing writer
CHESTER – Chester students recently submitted their poems to the 2022 Southwestern Illinois College (SWIC) Poetry Contest. The annual event is an excellent opportunity for young poets to try their hands at writing poetry and to be judged or evaluated for their work.
Some local schools make the contest a requirement for their English Language or Writing classes while others make the information available to students with the option of participating if they so choose.
Regardless of the motivation of the Chester students, their efforts were apparently well accepted and appreciated by the judges because students from St. Mary’s School, Chester Grade School and Chester High School won 11-of-18 prizes in the six school divisions.
Students in 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and High School Divisions competed with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Place prizes awarded in each category. There was also a 7th Adult Division with three winners recognized in that category.
This year, School Division winners came from four different local communities including Chester, Columbia, Red Bud, and Sparta. Chester had 11 winners, Columbia had four winners, Red Bud had two winners and Sparta had one winner.
From the 11 Chester winners, seven attend St. Mary’s Catholic School, two attend Chester High School and one attends Chester Grade School. St. Mary’s 6th Graders swept all three awards in the 6th Grade Division.
The following are the seven Division Winners and their respective schools and 1st, 2nd, or 3rd Place award standings.
4th Grade Division
1st Place Cole Lewandowski, Columbia
2nd Place Joey Stuart, Columbia
3rd lace Sami Valleroy, Columbia
5th Grade Division
1st Place Cole McDonald, St. Mary’s Chester
2nd Place Arabella Mallender, Chester Grade School (pictured with her teacher, Tammy Liefer)
3rd Place Reed Petrowske, St. Mary’s Chester
6th Grade Division
1st Place Marlie Caby, St. Mary’s Chester
2nd Place Rusty Korando, St. Mary’s Chester
3rd Place Gage Lynn, St. Mary’s Chester
7th Grade Division
1st Place Logan McDonald, St. Mary’s Chester
2nd Place Hailey Yankey, St. Mary’s Chester
3rd Place Zac Lauer, Red Bud
8th Grade Division
1st Place Jonathan Hayer, St. Mary’s Chester
2nd Place Gabby Vause, Red Bud
3rd Place Addison Tarr, Columbia
High School Division
1st Place Kaitlyn Chung, Sparta
2nd Place Julia Nicole Venus, Chester
2rd Place Jessica Ixcoy-Sica, Chester
Adult Division
1st Place Kathryn Klepacz Clancy, Troy, Illinois
2nd Place Belinda Burnworth, Belleville, Illinois
3rd Place Yvonne Meckfessel, Troy, Illinois
Chester poets won 11 awards in the various school divisions. Each recipient was presented with a certificate and a Barnes and Noble Gift Card. Chester poets swept both the 5th and 6th Grade Divisions. Judges critiqued each entry and gave advice for future endeavors.
Cole McDonald of St. Mary’s won 1st Place in the 5th Grade Division. The title of his poem was, “The Rainforest”. The judge said, “Cole is able to paint a picture of his words. He uses rhyme in an interesting way. Keep up the good work, Cole”.
Arabella Mallender of Chester Grade School won 2nd Place in the 5th Grade Division. Her poem title was, “There’s a Monster in the Attic”, and it is a humor about hearing noises that cannot be explained.
Her judge said, “Arabella uses some poetic devices. One is onomatopoeia. She also uses rhyme and assonance. Arabella plays the flute and she enjoys reading and writing stories. Arabella, continue to write! You have a creative imagination.”
Arabella’s teacher is Tammy Liefer at CGS. Mrs. Liefer said, “I always encourage my students to enter the SWIC Poetry Contest since it is a local contest. The judges are very knowledgeable and spend a lot of time studying the entries before they chose the winners. I am very proud of Arabella and her poem, “A Monster in the Attic”.
Reed Petrowske of St. Mary’s won 3rd Place in the 5th Grade Division. His winning poem is titled, “Mountains”. In his poem he uses a strong verb choice. He also utilizes onomatopoeia.
St. Mary’s Catholic School in Chester won all three awards in the 6th Grade Division. Marlie Caby won 1st Place with her poem, “Blankets”. Her judge said, “Her poem is especially meaningful. She uses simile, a poetic device that is a comparison which uses the words LIKE or AS. Congratulations on a beautiful and thoughtful poem. Keep writing Marlie.”
Rusty Korando of St. Mary’s placed 2nd in the 6th Grade Division with his poem, “Countryside Freedom”. He also uses words that have the sound of what they represent. His judge said. “Keep observing the world around you and keep writing, Rusty.”
Gage Lynn was the 3rd Place winner in the 6th Grade Division. The title of his poem is “Duck Hunting”. His poem is a narrative poem which tells a story. Gage uses onomatopoeia where the words on the page make the sounds they describe.
Gabe’s judge said, “Gage has a gift for using fine descriptive words to help us see the story within his poem. Congratulations, Gage. Keep observing the world around you and write about it!”
St. Mary’s students also won the top two awards in the 7th Grade Division. Logan McDonald won 1st Place with his poem. “Stars”. It is a simile which compares the brightness of the stars to mini versions of the sun.
His judge said, “His words paint a thought-provoking picture of the night sky. Logan, continue to watch the night sky, and continue to write poems!”
Hailey Yankey was the 2nd Place winner in the 7th Grade Division. Her winning poem, “Sunsets” makes good use of the senses. The sense of sight is used in almost every line and gives us something to see. Some of the lines also give us something to hear or touch.
Hailey’s judge said, “Another exciting part of the poem is the way Hailey describes the passages of time until the sun sets again. Good job Hailey. Continue to write these beautiful poems.”
In the 8th Grade Division Jonathan Hayer from St. Mary’s in Chester won the 1st Place Award. His poem is titled, “The Forest Floor”. His poem tells the story of a squirrel at play and then how a rabbit is avoiding a bobcat.
Jonathan’s judge said, “This poem is a narrative. Those who enjoy a happy ending will be pleased with Jonathan’s poem. He uses alliteration such as using three M’s, mellow, morning and meadow. His description of the heart-pounding relief of the rabbit having avoided the bobcat really describes feeling. Keep up the fine writing, Jonathan!”
Chester High School took 2-of-3 top-3 prizes in the High School Division of the 2022 SWIC Poetry Contest. Shown here (left to right) are Rana Hodge, CHS English II teacher; sophomore Jessica Ixcoy-Sica, 3rd Place winner and student of Ms. Hodge; junior, Julia Nicole Venus, 2nd Place winner and student of English III teacher, Mike Springston; and Mike Springston. Jim Beers Photo
Two Chester High School students won awards in the High School Division. Julia Nicole Venus, a junior, won 2nd Place and Jessica Ixcoy-Sica, a sophomore, won 3rd Place.
Venus enjoys painting, drawing, hiking, reading and writing. Her favorite poet is Emily Dickenson’s poem and her favorite poem is Dickenson’s “Because I Could Not Stop Death”. Her English III teacher at Chester High School is Mike Springston.
Julia’s 2nd Place poem is titled, “Already Dead”. It is the story of a woman who has been dealt a bitter blow in life and has learned how to deal with those blows by hardening herself until she feels no more and waits for death.
Julia’s judge said, “Julia uses rhythm and rhyme throughout the poem, but the internal rhyme of corpse and remorse is especially interesting.”
Jessica’s favorite poet is Dr. Seuss and her favorite poem is “The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman. This particular poem was read at the 2021 Presidential Inauguration. At CHS Jessica enjoys playing in the CHS Band and she enjoys reading and writing. Her English II teacher is Rana Hodge.
Hodge said, “Mrs. Hammel. Mr. Springston, and I did not require students to enter the competition. This was a voluntary exercise. In fact, CHS had only four total students enter the contest. This is a pretty incredible ratio considering we had two winners from CHS!”
“What amazes me is the ability of these young people to write such mature, heart-felt verse. We have some very talented writers and we at CHS are very proud.”
Jessica said, “I want to recognize and thank my former English teacher, Sara Hammel who encouraged me and helped me with my early poetry writing”.
Jessica’s 3rd Place winning poem is titled, “Paper” which examines the way paper has been used over the years and how it is used today. She sees ‘blank paper’ as a challenge and describes the many documents and writings that would not be here today if it was not for paper.
Jessica’s judge said, “Jessica uses some exact verbs such as ‘spill’, ‘tear’, burn’ and ‘seeps’ as well as some strong nouns as ‘ache’ and ‘rumble’ which is especially interesting since they are usually used as verbs. Jessica, keep thinking and writing creatively. Your creativity shows in this poem!”