Arrowhead Creative Writing Students Win MPM Poetry Competition

Juniors and seniors in Elizabeth Jorgensen’s creative writing class participated in this year’s Milwaukee Public Museum’s poetry competition.Winning poems in this year’s high school division were written by Arrowhead senior Michael Kudis, and Arrowhead juniors Lindsay Schlehlein, and Bronson Esteves. The winning poems were titled “The Boy Pharaoh — King Tutankhamun Ruler of Egypt”; “Papyrus and Hor-Aha’s Nubia Campaign”; and “Stowed Away and Shrouded in Darkness” respectively. You can find their poems published on the MPM’s website here.

According to the MPM’s website contest announcement, “The competition is open to all Wisconsin students in the following three grade categories: Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8, and Grades 9-12.” The poems must be double spaced and cannot exceed 30 lines. Each poem is required to have a title, and be completely original.

Of the 400-plus submissions submitted from classrooms throughout the state of Wisconsin, all three of the high school winners came from Jorgensen’s class.

Winners were invited to read their poems at the Museum on Saturday, May 14th, as part of the 2016 Wisconsin Museum Week. Kudis, Schlehlein, Esteves and Jorgensen were all in attendance. A certificate of achievement and additional prizes were awarded to the winning poets at the reading. Before students read their poems, Richard Hedderman, the lead judge, gave each poet feedback.

Hedderman said there was “a pattern of rhythm employed carefully” while commenting on Schlehlein’s piece.

This is the eighth year the MPM has hosted a poetry competition and each year the theme of the poetry contest changes. This year’s theme was the ancient world.

Jorgensen has a history of having her students selected as winners in the Milwaukee Public Museum’s poetry competition, including Sarah Struhar in the 2013-14 competition and more of Jorgensen’s students in the 2014-15 competition. During the 2014-2015 school year, all three high school winners came from Jorgensen’s class including the Arrowhead senior Jessica Gill for her poem “Through the Smoke”; then junior Gianna Natalizio for her poem “Migration—An Unknown Destination”; and then junior Shane Dougherty for his poem “A Community of Fish.”  

This year, the MPM poetry competition placed an emphasis on the ancient world, requiring students to include the theme of the ancient world in their work. Some suggested topics included the Great Pyramids of Giza, Hadrian’s Wall, the lighthouse at Alexandria, and the Coliseum in Rome.

The competition guidelines said, “The ancient world is also a great source for fun facts to inspire poems: Did you know that the Egyptians had nearly 2,000 different gods? Or that Alexander the Great never lost a battle and named over 70 cities for himself, and one after his horse? Did you know that the Greek Hoplite warriors got their name from their special shields, the hoplon, or that the ancient Romans would sometimes flood the Coliseum and stage miniature naval battles as entertainment?”

Kudis’ poem, “The Boy Pharaoh — King Tutankhamun Ruler of Egypt” focused on the life of King Tut. Hedderman said this was the only comedic poem about King Tut he has ever seen.

According to the MPM’s website, the 2016-2017 theme is food: “For the 2016-17 school year, MPM is encouraging students to look at the role food plays in nature, culture and history. Does what we eat make us who we are? How does food help us remember where we came from? Is food a status symbol? Students are encouraged to write poems that explore how food shapes the world…We encourage classes to visit the Museum to discover the importance food has played in different societies throughout time and visit Our Global Kitchen: Food, Nature, Culture, opening in March of 2017, to see the impact it still has on people today.”

Jorgensen says she is more excited about next year’s food theme than she was for this year’s ancient world theme.

She says, “I will definitely have my students in creative writing submit to this contest in future years. It’s a great opportunity for students. I am so proud of our winners. They worked hard and did something original, creative and definitely award-winning.”