Poetry, Potato Salad And Grandma Martha Come To East Windsor High School

At most town school board meetings one typically hears discussion on SAT scores, increased expenditures and strained budgets.

But the folks at added a few new topics to the agenda such as things like potato salad and macaroni and B-movie Cyclops and vampire movies?

That’s what a handful of audience members heard Thursday night after the board honored one group of “Outstanding Students” for their achievements and recognized two others for their poetry style. The evening featured live drama compliments of junior Luis Gomba, 17, and freshman Jennifer Piekos, 14. The two were named winners in Poetry Out Loud, a national recitation contest created by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. The national program was created to illustrate the art of poetry recitation.

“I want to hear more,” said board chairman John Pica-Sneeden after Luis recited the memorized poem, “Immigrant Picnic,” which tells of an immigrant family’s July Fourth get-together.

After his performance Luis said he overcomes his sometimes fear of speaking before an audience through preparation and a positive attitude toward the audience – and a little heavy breathing.

“This is a great way to get involved in literature,” said Luis, who also plays drums in the school band, mentors younger students and recently played Chief Sitting Bull in the school play “Annie Get Your Gun.”

While Luis talked about celebrating family picnics, Jennifer told of horror, dread and death through the poem “Scary Movies” which was written by poet Kim Addonizio.

“It was different,” said Jennifer, a high-honors student, who plays basketball, softball and clarinet in the school band.

When it came to honoring students for their achievements in and out of the classrooms sophomore Allison Rodrigue, 15, was back for the second time. After the board recognized her as an eighth-grader she returned to accept another plaque Thursday. With aspirations of becoming a teacher or pharmacist, Allison has her sights set on attending or the University of Rhode Island.

“The best thing about high school is the people, and the atmosphere,” said Allison, who in addition to playing basketball, soccer and softball, is a straight-A student.

Not to be forgotten was sixth-grader Anthony Gagne, who had a small family flowing that included his parents and grandmother, Martha. Maybe it’s the fact that his grandmother always buys him candy from the convalescent home gift shop, but when asked his number one fan, Anthony didn’t hesitate. 

“She’s the best,” he said. 

Third-grader Mia DiMauro, who also received an Outstanding Student award, left the building before being interviewed.

When it came to presentations even the district’s director of curriculum and instruction got into the act. Irene Parisi didn’t recite any poetry, but she did give a PowerPoint presentation on the highlights of the newly created tutoring program.
 
Twenty-eight youths participated in the five-month reading program where students read a book a week, usually with a non-fiction twist, she said. Sixteen books later, Parisi was applauding the program’s results, saying   “It was very successful.”

In other business, the board approved June 24 for high school graduation, three days after senior Nick Parker departs for Colorado. Parker has been appointed to the United States Air Force Academy and board members are debating how to hold a special graduation ceremony for the “all-around good kid.”

“This really is a significant, significant achievement, said high school principal Liam O’Reilly. “The district should take pride.”