FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 25, 2006

Students Ready to Meet Poet Laureate

(Syracuse) “Could I one day be the United States Poet Laureate?”

That’s not a question poet-in-residence Elizabeth Twiddy was expecting to hear from her Shea Middle School students, but there it was.

"Once my students realized [United States Poet Laureate] Ted Kooser was actually going to visit and physically appear and share their space, they became much more serious... Anticipating his visit made poetry seem more real and immediate to them, and really injected a sense of urgency and importance into working on their own writing."

The poetry project at Shea was one of eight Poetry Partnerships in Central New York that took place last spring in anticipation of Ted Kooser’s visit to Syracuse. He will be at OCC on Thursday, October 5 as the culminating event of “Community Life in Poetry,” presented by Partners for Arts Education and the YMCA’s Downtown Writer’s Center.

Twiddy and her students left their basement classroom and went out to Onondaga Park to observe nature, and use their observations as the basis for further study in science and for writing poetry. Although the park is less than half a mile from school, several students had never been there.

Said Twiddy, “My students began the project with reluctance and some degrees of indifference, not understanding poetry, not having read much poetry, and not having a sense that poetry was important or that they could actually write their own poetry. Once we got into it, though,. . .some students couldn't stop writing poems once they'd started. I created some poetry addicts!"

Some of those poetry addicts will be in attendance on October 5, when Ted Kooser, who just retired as U.S. Poet Laureate, will meet with students and teachers at OCC’s Storer Auditorium at 3pm. The program is part of the Arts Across Campus Speaker Series. If you are interested in attending the event, which is free, contact Georgia at 234.9911.

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The Arts Branch of the YMCA seeks to enrich lives through education in the visual, literary and performing arts. Programs for all ages are offered throughout Onondaga County.

Partners for Arts Education inspires learning and leadership for arts in education in Central New York and throughout New York State. We provide funding and support to deepen and enrich educational experiences in and through the arts for students, teachers and artists.

Partners for Arts Education
Delavan Center Suite 221  501 W. Fayette St.  Syracuse, NY  13202
315.234.9911  info@arts4ed.org  www.arts4ed.org

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