These two Naugatuck High School students are about to be judged with there work by John L. Stanizzi, a judge for the competition.  

We have interviewed one of the Naugatuck partisan pents, Riley Arellano a senior at Naugy. We asked her some questions about what her feelings are about her and the competition.

Riley shared her feelings about her own poetry.

“So I write from a past. Opposed about what is going on around them. I grew up in a tough situation so I used that as a utter for my creative process. But… my poetry is very personal and I feel about getting my story out there will help kids relate to the same situation I was in,” Riley told The Greyhound News.

Jillian shared that “her emotions” fueled her beautiful and cerebral poetry.

The winners of the competition are amply rewarded with:

• Winners will read at the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival on Young Poet’s Day Sunday, August 11, 2019. Winners must be available to participate in this public performance.
• Winning poems will be printed in a chapbook published by Grayson Books and available for purchase in our Museum Shop.
• Winning poets will have their work featured on Hill-Stead’s website in the online poetry journal, Theodate.

While Jillian says that her poetry is a solitary activity that she spends a lot of time refining, Riley has credited Mrs. Jennifer Brennan, Mrs. Ashley Kastelein and Mrs. Carolyne Dymond with encouraging her to continue with her writing.

We wish these two poets the best of luck on their creative journeys.