Seneca High School hosts Poetry Festival

The 10th annual event allowed students to meet award-winning authors

On Tuesday, March 22, Seneca High School in Tabernacle hosted its 10th Annual Poetry Festival. Students from Lenape High School (Medford), Shawnee High School (Medford), Cherokee High School (Marlton), and Lenape Regional High School District’s Sequoia Alternative Program visited Seneca for the day to engage in a series of workshops with poets from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. The festival featured five poets who shared their work and facilitated writing workshops for students in the Lenape Regional High School District. This year’s award-winning poets included Marina Carreira, Emari DiGiorgio, Charles Johnson, Christine E. Salvatore, and Paul-Victor Winters.

This unique opportunity gave students the chance to learn from published and award-winning authors. Seneca High School sophomore Laura Gibbs, who is taking Creative Writing and Poetry electives this year, commented, “The Poetry Festival was an incredible experience for young writers who don’t often get to meet people who successfully live out their dreams to be poets as others kids often do who long to be doctors or lawyers.”

Seneca junior Bronte Castro, who is currently enrolled in a Poetry elective, added that “The entire festival was diverse with inspiring authors who shared pieces of their works to help us further progress our own.” The program ended with an opportunity for students to share their own work with the poets.