Florence Guadineer Receives Writing Grant

Florence Gaudineer Middle School is being honored for its poetry, which is somewhat ironic, considering how difficult it is to find a word that rhymes with Guadineer.

The school is one of two New Jersey schools be awarded a $250 grant from an international competition sponsored by the Utah-based group Creative Communication. The grant is awarded to 50 schools throughout the United States and Canada.

Gaudineer qualified for the grant earlier by having over 15 student-written poems published in the Creative Communication’s annual poetry anthology. Out of the 15 Gaudineer published in the anthology, two students, Ariel Kalati and Gerber Bolanos, were judged to be among the Top 10 poems in the contest for New Jersey writers in grades 7, 8 and 9.

Gaudineer teacher Stephanie Shack has her students enter the contest each year, and said that winning the award and having two students judged among the Top 10 is “an exciting honor” in a release from the school district.

Over 3,000 New Jersey students entered the contest. Having two students in the top ten is rare, Creative Communication Founder and Editor Tom Worthen said.

“It doesn’t happen a lot, but when you have a teacher who works with the class, it makes a difference at times,” Worthen said. “When you have a good teacher, you get good poets.”

Worthen said the grant money would be sent out in early January.