Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Anthony Lagana named Bucks County High School Poet Laureate; New Hope high school student poets honored at Bucks County Poetry Competition

Victoria Siano and Charlotte Haigh
Staff Writers

On Saturday, May 7, a reading and reception for the participants of the Bucks County High School Poet of the Year was held on the Bucks County Community College campus.
  The Bucks County High School Poet of the Year is an annual competition for all high school students in the Bucks County area in which future poets are allowed the chance to submit a few of their works to be judged by two Bucks County poet laureates, Tyler Kline and Sandra Becker. In the reading on Saturday, participants and finalists alike had a chance to read their poems to other participants and community members. This year, the winner is  Anthony Adams Lagana, a junior at New Hope-Solebury high school. His poems entitled “On Goat Hill,” “For the hungry moon,” and “American Dream,” were described by judge Tyler Kline as “[having] an energy that cannot be ignored or won’t be…” Mr. Kline and co-judge Sandra Becker praised his power and skill as a poet, as well as his use of rhetorical devices.
  Other participants from New Hope-Solebury included Lexi Anderson, Margaret Burmester, Maryna Chuma, Caroline Donado, Anneliese Fitzsimmons, Charlotte Haigh, Emily Madara, and Seamus M. Slack. Annelise Fitzsimmons, Charlotte Haigh, and Emily Madara were three of the 27 finalists in the competition as well.
  Congratulations to all participants in the competition for their efforts and for highlighting the talent of students at New Hope-Solebury.