Somers Students Write What’s on their Minds

 

 

By Neal Rentz

High School students from the northeast, including seniors from Somers High School and John F. Kennedy Catholic High School in Somers, have a lot on their minds.

For the ninth straight year students poems and essays have been compiled in the book “On My Mind.” An event to celebrate the publication of the 2014 edition of the book was hosted by Somers High School on May 8.

Aside from Somers High School and Kennedy Catholic High School, students from the Academy for Social Action in Harlem and Sullivan West High School in Lake Huntington, NY took part in last week’s event. Students from Franklin High School in Franklin Township, NJ were invited to the event but could not attend because there were taking Advanced Placement (AP) exams.

Students from Philadelphia, PA, Brooklyn, and Danbury, CT also provided their writings for the book.

“On My Mind 2014” was published by the Northeast Westchester Rotary Club.

Northeast Westchester Rotary Club Literacy Committee member John Katzenstein said the book was in keeping with the club’s mission.

“Our goal is to improve the lives of others,” he said, adding the sponsors who provided funding for this year’s book included Mahopac National Bank, Putnam County Savings Bank, IBM and the Pepsi Cola Foundation.

The night’s keynote speaker was Mahopac resident Linda Silbert, who is a writer and educator. Silbert said the students whose works were included in the book had much to be proud of. “To be published in high school is a remarkable accomplishment,” she said.

The young writers took advantage of an opportunity given to them by the Rotary Club, Silbert said. “Don’t let opportunities go by you,” she told the students.

Silbert discussed her book “Bessy’s Pillow,” a biography about her grandmother who immigrated to the United States in New Rochelle at the age of 18 in 1906. Despite the hardships she endured, her grandmother worked in many ways to make the lives of others better, Silbert said.

Several students read what they had contributed to “On My Mindy 2014.”

Kennedy Catholic High School student Kristina Durham read her poem, “Abandoned,” which was about the effects that her mother leaving her as a youngster had on her. Part of the poem stated:

Maybe you shouldn’t come back to us

All you do is let me down

All you do is cause my heart misery

And I only have one thing to say to you mom …

Why did you leave?

Somers High School student Charlie Park read his poem, “Today, Tomorrow and the Next Day: A story written for the ephemeral person.” Part of his poem stated:

I find the worst of all chronic wounds to be the mouth,

because breathing is an art that everyone knows you have mastered.

However, sometimes a little refresher is nice,

so you know you’re doing it right.