Caldwell College Students Learn From Poets

Students in several of Caldwell College English Professor Dr. Mary Ann Miller's poetry classes took advantage of service-learning options this semester. These volunteer experiences gave the students the option to work alongside local poets to fulfill a required portion of the course grade.

College students Dymon Johnston, Ruba Sbeah, Grace Jackson, Ariella Ventura, James Quinn, Mary Kate McGrath and Samantha Payerl hosted a reading for Diane Lockward at the West Caldwell Public Library on Saturday, April 10.

Under Lockward's direction, the students publicized the reading on poetry Web sites and attended the event, where they introduced the poet, sold copies of her book and provided refreshments.

"The aim of the service-learning option in my poetry course is to enable students to understand the role and value of poetry in contemporary society by witnessing first-hand the work of an accomplished local poet," Miller said. "Ultimately, participating in service to a poet should foster the spirit of volunteerism for the arts."

Caldwell College students Zeth Bell and Nicole DeNichilo helped Laura Boss, editor of the poetry magazine Lips, send out rejection letters and update her archives. This process helped them learn why poems are selected or rejected for publication, as well as how to write a literary letter to submit with a poem.

Under the direction of poet Loren Kleinman, students Jacqueline Bain, Shante Thomas, Mary Kerwin, Ali Chohan and Juliette Wilson learned principles of selecting and ordering poems within a collection and principles of selecting publishers.

Students Roberta Chatson-Simons, Heather Halasz, Asia Bash-Gaffney, Dave Roberts and Brian Birchier assisted poet Madeline Tiger with a variety of tasks, including selecting poems for her next collection, organizing files of poems and updating her Facebook account.