Two students at St. Augustine of Centerbury R.C. School are honored for their poetry.
By: Melissa Hayes
Students at St. Augustine of Canterbury R.C. School have been busy entering literary contests and their hard work is paying off.
Last year seventh-grader Nick Perkons and sixth-grader Daniel Chedid entered the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Recycling Poetry Contest. The contest was statewide and the boys were recently announced as two of 12 winners and were presented with certificates at Foresgate Country Club in Monroe.
"They also gave us this whole bag of recycling stuff," Daniel said.
Principal Sister Mary Louise Shulas said the school is trying to do projects that bring together more than one discipline.
Nick said that in addition to writing the poem on recycling, students in his science class also made recycled paper.
In math class, Nick said that he catalogued his family’s pattern of trash misuse and developed a family plan on how to recycle better.
St. Augustine was the only school in the state to have two finalists.
Nick said in addition to the recycling contest, which was a collaborative effort with the science and language arts department, his language arts class recently entered an essay contest.
"We’re entering a lot of contests," he said.
His teacher, Gayle Geiger, said 60 students entered the "Something About Me" essay competition and another 40 or 50 students entered a poetry competition.
Nick said half of his class’s essays were selected as finalists and will be printed in a book of essays.
Sister Shulas said the school is receiving a $250 grant as a result. The money will be used for a poetry night during which selected students will read poems.
Carrying out the theme of combining subjects, Ms. Geiger had her class create computer presentations for the school’s open house, which was Sunday.
"Students created PowerPoint story boards for Sunday’s open house on ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘Johnny Tremaine,’" she said.
In addition to using technology for their presentations, they also created theme songs based on one of the two books.
"I did mine on ‘Johnny Tremaine,’" Nick said.

