Photo: Frank Veronsky
As the school year comes to an end, we want to thank the teachers and faculty who make our High School programs a success. They do a great deal of legwork to enrich their students’ education with a live poetry event. Despite their already heavy workload, they schedule the classroom visits and readings and coordinate all the logistical needs for the day. They copy our materials and share them with other teachers and students so that everyone is well-prepared for our visits. They model curiosity and enthusiasm in the classroom. They do activities before and after the event so that the students’ experience is deepened and broadened. They take responsibility for their school’s completion of evaluations and assessments. They take care of many other small details behind the scenes so that everything runs smoothly. Especially this year when the demands of testing were so great, we are so grateful for their efforts and for their enduring commitment to poetry.
Photo: Laura DeSantis-Olsson
We also want to thank the Dodge Poets who work in our High School programs. Our poets walk into a room of perfect strangers and do their best to ignite the imagination of each and every student, regardless of how each student feels about poetry. Some students may already love poetry and be open to the experience while others may have long ago decided that poetry is “not my thing.” By connecting directly to students in classroom discussions and readings, poets make it possible for students to develop their relationship to poetry and to have a personal connection with poems. We can’t thank them enough for the creativity and compassion they bring to this work.
Since the 2014 Dodge Poetry Festival in October, our poets have met with almost 4,000 students. The photos in this blog share a few moments we captured. We could not have done it without the following individuals:
Arts High School, Newark
Robert Richardson, Art Teacher
Dodge Poet: Khalil Murrell
Bloomfield High School, Bloomfield
Michael DiMasi, English Teacher
Dodge Poet: Khalil Murrell
Cumberland Regional High School, Bridgeton
Bob Evans, English Teacher
Dodge Poet: Khalil Murrell
Dickinson High School, Jersey City
Rosa Bayas, English Teacher
Dodge Poet: Vincent Toro
East Brunswick High School, East Brunswick
Megan Manetta, English Department Chair
Laura Strachan, English Teacher
Dodge Poets: Grisel Acosta, Michael Cirelli, Safia Jama, John McDermott, Peter Murphy, Christine Salvatore, Vincent Toro, BJ Ward
Holmdel High School, Holmdel
Margaret McDonald, English Teacher
Marilyn Bellis, Supervisor of Humanities
Dodge Poets: Emari DiGiorgio, Maria Gillan, Charles Johnson, Gretna Wilkinson
The Hudson School, Hoboken
Suellen Newman, Founder and Director
Dodge Poet: BJ Ward
Jackson High School, Jackson
Dyanne Leopold, English Teacher
Dodge Poet: Gretna Wilkinson
Madison High School, Madison
Anne Wessel Dwyer, English Teacher
Dodge Poets: Michael Cirelli, Cat Doty, James Hoch. Visiting poets: Josh Humphries, Yesenia Montilla
North Star Charter Academy High School, Newark
Michael Taubman, English Teacher
Matthew McCluskey, English Teacher
Dodge Poets: Michael Cirelli, Maria Gillan, Vincent Toro, Joe Weil, Gretna Wilkinson
Orange High School, Orange
Francis Barken, Language Arts Teacher
Dodge Poet: Khalil Murrell
Seneca High School, Tabernacle
John Bowden, Assistant Principal
Mike Manna, English Teacher
Dodge Poets: Charles Johnson, John McDermott, Peter Murphy, Christine Salvatore, Gretna Wilkinson, Paul-Victor Winters
Trenton Foundation Academy
Sonia Elliott, Director of External Affairs
Erin Gallagher, English & Language Arts Teacher
Dodge Poet: Khalil Murrell
University Academy Charter School, Jersey City
Gina DiRenzi, English Teacher
Susan Chenelle, English Teacher
Dodge Poet: Vincent Toro
Voorhees High School, Glen Gardner
Richard Broan, English Supervisor
Bonnie Beneszewski, English Teacher
Dodge Poets: Michael Cirelli, Lois Harrod, Vasiliki Katsarou, Joe Weil, Paul Victor-Winters
Photo: Lauren Rutten
Dodge Poets (L-R) John McDermott, Charles Johnson, Gretna Wilkinson, Christine Salvatore, Peter Murphy and Paul-Victor Winters. Photo: Frank Veronsky
Photo: Laura DeSantis-Olsson
Photo: Frank Veronsky
Photo: Lauren Rutten
Photo: Laura DeSantis-Olsson
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