2026 WPSU Poetry Contest Winners

K-2

1st Place: “Summer Forest”
Adley Brown, 2nd Grade
Warren, PA

I hear birds chirping
It feels safe and cozy
I hear the rustling leaves and whispering
It smells fresh
The forest smiles just like you smile to me
The leaves run with the wind
A forest is like a book with beauty

2nd Place: “Fire”
Jane Silvestri Wehr, 2nd Grade
State College, PA

Crackle. Crack. Pop.
As I sit by the fire
The flames rise higher
Outside I hear a tire
Slide on ice
I’m glad I got good advice
To sit by the fire
With the flames rising higher
I grab a book I am reading
And retire

3rd Place: “Flowers”
Willow Conley, Kindergarten
State College, PA

Flowers, flowers dancing in the breeze
Can I be one of you, please?
I want my colors to be purple and black
Birds will think I’m a yummy snack
People might pick me and put me in a vase
When they look at me, they’ll smile with grace
In spring there’ll be more of me
Just like my dream, oh please let it be

Grades 3-5

1st Place: “Puppy Paws”
Elliette Fralick, 5th Grade
Warren, PA

The rhythmic staccato of his velvet paws
The gentle persistence of his rhythmic gnaws
That damp, obsidian button of a nose
Twitches in rhythm as he drifts to doze
He retreats to a realm where only he can tread,
While I watch the golden curls of his head
A silken sphere, anchored in grace,
I will walk beside him through time and space.

2nd Place: “Imagination”
Emily Campbell, 5th Grade
Warren, PA

A little girl went outside for a walk
When everyone else saw a puddle,
She saw a great, treacherous lake to cross!
When everyone else saw a stump of an old tree,
She saw a tall stage and performed a concert!
When everyone else saw boring, plain clouds,
She saw fluffy white lambs grazing peacefully in the sky
When everyone else saw a blanket,
She saw a cape and imagined she was a brave superhero!
Everything that she saw while going for a walk
With her imagination

3rd Place: “The Fading”
Makena Hagberg, 5th Grade
Warren, PA

When in a bed at the children’s hospital,
When the commands rise while fading
When feeling nothing and everything in the world
When time slows down, seconds as minutes
Lung’s breathing; heart beating; sighs of relief
Feeling legs and arms move once more
The world feels like it throws a party
God has given me a second life to live

Grades 6-8

1st Place: “Parental Pruning”
Evelyn Morath, 8th Grade
State College, PA

Plucked From Childhood,
Ripped, not grown
Cut from the ground
Our roots, still learning to hold.
You,
You didn’t wait,
You never do.
You said bloom,
You meant behave.
You said potential,
You grabbed scissors.
Roses cut for your table, dandelions decapitated,
Because you hate what grows without permission.
So many of us,
Cut down to serve.
Stand still. Smile. Work.
We drink what you allow.
Our sunlight’s your profit.
You,
You feed us praise like scraps.
You ration water like mercy.
You called it an opportunity.
Stunted life disguised as progress.
Withering known as maturity
Grief labeled normal.
Maybe, if we’re lucky,
A few seeds will fall far,
When you aren’t looking.
Most don’t.
Your mercy dried up,
Your praise gone,
Your profit diminished,
Because we’re not yours anymore.
Just, dead.
And,
You shrug.
Everyone has to grow up. You called it life.

2nd Place: “Time Capsule”
Amy McCormick, 6th Grade
State College, PA

In the forest
Balanced across a stream
Covered in moss
Soaked with rain water
And memories
Lies a log
The solid gold sunlight shines
Onto the log’s rough bark
As people hike through the trees
And across the log to the other side,
Insects crawl through its forests of fungi
Foraging for something satisfying to eat
The log is there through it all
Like a time capsule
Reminding people of the many times
They have walked across it
Hearing the stream laugh and burble
Over the rocks
Underneath the log
Watching the stream shine in the sun.
The log still sits there
Covered in moss
Soaked with memories
Guiding hikers to new trails
And feeling
As steady
And calm
And purposeful
As the stream below

3rd Place: “Growing Up”
Astrid Hall, 7th Grade
State College, PA

I used to think
That I grew
But let’s be honest,
Who here knew
Who I was before I moved?
Nobody can
Trust themselves
To judge the
Person they are
And I think
I’m the person
I used to hate
Too loud
Smiles too much
Jokes like their life
Depends on it.
Friendly to everyone
Friends with most
But never actually wants
To be near them.
The person who has
Things they want others to see
But doesn’t want to show off
So they do it casually
Then accept the comments
Bashfully.
The person
I would be ashamed of.
I’m not saying
I don’t like myself
I just wish I’d grown
Into someone else.
Someone little me
Would feel so proud
To point at and say
That’s who I’ve become!
That’s me in the future!
Everyone welcome,
To the future me show!
And I’ve fixed
Things I don’t like
I’m less impulsive
Throw the bait,
I won’t bite.
But other things
I can’t get right
I never let silence be
Always fill it with stories of me
Or my friends.
So,
Would little me
Be proud of current me?
Wait another day and see
Who I am I tomorrow.

Grades 9-12

1st Place: “Where We First Took Root”
Eliza Knott, 9th Grade
Gallitzen, PA

Morning clung to the rooftops,
slow and sweet like syrup on cold shingles,
the kind of quiet that felt full of something about to happen.
We ran barefoot through puddles,
water splashing up our legs,
laughing too loud,
our hands rough with bark and dirt
and whatever dreams we were busy inventing,
trying to hold on to bits of sunlight
like they might last forever.
Wonder and hurt lived together back then
bright and sharp as glitter on the floor,
pretty until it cut your skin.
We crashed through everything.
Skinned knees. Knotted hair.
Hearts sparking with things
no one ever explained how to carry.
They warned us about getting burned,
but we reached for the flame anyway,
and somehow the world let us ache
and grow
at the same time.
Late at night we made wishes at streetlights,
at the dark sky,
at anything that might still believe in us.
And between all that noise,
we kept stretching upward
awkward, stubborn, alive
learning how to hold each other
while we became
something new.

2nd Place: “A Book For Dinner”
Emma Stone, 9th Grade
Williamsburg, PA

“What would you like for dinner?”
my mother asked me.
I answered her with,
“I’d like a book please.”
They come in all different flavors,
Like mystery or romance.
They’re cooked by all different chefs,
With pens as their utensils.
They come from restaurants,
Where you pay for them with library cards.
If they’re bland,
I’ll avoid them until they’re cold.
I’ll take my fork and play around with them.
I’ll sneakily feed them to my dog under the table.
If they’re delicious,
I’ll gobble them up as fast as I can,
Or,
I’ll savor them,
Dreading the moment that I’ve finished the last bite.
I love to taste the warm, spicy flavors of the classics,
And,
I love to be adventurous,
Experience the exotic flavors of new ones.
Yes,
I do believe that I would like
A book for dinner.

3rd Place: “Where Silence Learned My Name”
Aubrey Chicko, 9th Grade
Houtzdale, PA

Loneliness felt like being left behind
without anyone saying goodbye.
It showed up even when I was surrounded,
a weight in my chest
no one could see.
I kept wondering what was wrong with me,
why connection slipped through my hands
like it was never meant to stay,
why silence always knew my name.
Some nights,
the quiet hurt more than words ever could.
It echoed with everything I didn’t say,
everything no one thought to ask.
Eventually, I stopped reaching
not because I didn’t want someone,
but because hoping
started to feel cruel.
Now I live gently with the emptiness.
It still aches,
just not as loudly.