In the kindergarten to second-grade band, second-grade student from Warren Area Elementary Center, Adley Brown, was awarded first place for her poem called The Summer Forest.

“I came up with my idea because I like the forest in the summer. I was very excited when I found out that I won first place,” she said.

In the third to fifth-grade band, three fifth-grade students from Beaty-Warren Middle School were also recognized: Elliette Fralick who earned first place with her poem called “Puppy Paws,” Emily Campbell, who earned second place with her poem called “Imagination,” and Makena Hagberg, who earned third place with her poem called “The Fading.”

“I wanted to write a poem about my dog,” said Elliette. “I was surprised I won first because there were a lot of other great poems.”

Elliette Fralick

“I came up with the idea for my poem because of memories from when I was little,” Emily said. “My parents always said I had a big imagination and some of the parts of my poem were inspired by my own childhood.”

“I got the inspiration to write my poem from when I was in first grade and was hospitalized with Lyme disease,” Makena said. “I wrote my poem because I want people to know what Lyme disease was like for me in a cryptic way so they can understand.”

As part of this recognition, both first-place winners, Adley and Elliette, had the special opportunity to record themselves reading their winning poems. These recordings were featured on a special radio program called “Poetry Moment” on April 27, in celebration of April Poetry Month on the WPSU-FM radio station. All top four finalists in each grade level band also have their poems published on the WPSU website at https://wpsu.org/2026-wpsu-poetry-contest-winners/, and you can also listen to a recording of Adley and Elliette reading their poems on the radio.

Winning Poems:

The Summer Forest – first place

Emily Campbell

By Adley Brown

Grade 2 – Warren Area Elementary Center

I hear birds chirping

It feels safe and cozy

I hear the rustling leaves and whispering

Makena Hagberg

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

Puppy Paws – first place

By Elliette Fralick

Grade 5 – Beaty-Warren Middle School

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.

Imagination – second place

By Emily Campbell

Grade 5 – Beaty-Warren Middle School

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

The Fading – third place

By: Makena Hagberg

Grade 5 – Beaty-Warren Middle School

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