by honing creative skills
By jennifer dome
Staff Writer
Helen Vassallo, (above) 17, reads a section of Robert Frost’s “The Outsiders” during a coffee house night at the Sayreville Bar to benefit Sayreville War Memorial High School’s literary magazine, Images.
SAYREVILLE — Copious amounts of talent can be found in the crowded halls of Sayreville War Memorial High School.
One outlet for those pupils with an artistic knack is in the school literary magazine, Images. This yearly magazine is available to students free of charge and displays original poetry, prose and artwork of all kinds.
In order to raise funds and develop school pride in Images, the student-run staff of the magazine has been holding poetry nights on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month. The next "coffeehouse" night will take place at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Sayreville Bar & Restaurant, Cecelia Street.
"At the readings, we have been aiming to create a very relaxed and homelike atmosphere, and so far we’ve been quite successful," said Helen Vassallo, editor-in-chief of Images.
At right, Lauren Reingold, 16, reads an original poem during the coffee house night. The next coffee house is scheduled for April 29.
Thanks to one of the magazine’s managing editors, Megan Ronan, who works as a hostess at the Sayreville Bar & Restaurant, the students were given permission to use the upstairs room on the premises. Vassallo said students come to the readings and read original material or material of published authors. Some students also play instruments and sing, she said.
Admission to the poetry nights is $2, and coffee, tea and homemade pastries can also be purchased. So far, the magazine staff has raised more than $200, according to Vassallo.
The staff members at Images want their peers "to leave the bar on a high from experiencing the arts since it is such a rare occasion when this is possible in the suburbs," Vassallo said.