To celebrate April’s National Poetry Month, Hawthorne High School’s Library Media Center and the Creative Writing Club sponsored the Joy of Poetry Day on Thursday, April 24, 2014.

When asked about the Joy of Poetry Day at HHS, which has been celebrated for the past two years, Theresa DiGeronimo, HHS’s Library Media Specialist and Creative Writing Club advisor, said, “April is National Poetry month; the Creative Writing Club celebrates this national event to bring attention to the joy of poetry.”

During the event, students, faculty, and administrators were welcomed to participate in a variety of activities. For instance, students and staff were able to write poems and draw artistically with chalk in the HHS courtyard and write a poem on the windows of the Library Media Center using special window markers.

In addition, the Creative Writing Club spread its passion for poetry by leaving colorful plastic eggs throughout the school with poems hidden inside. Many students and staff were surprised when they found these eggs. Kali Spoelstra, English teacher, found an egg left by student on her desk that contained short, fun, and encouraging poems that she shared with her class.

To top off the event, club members participated in the World Book Night book give-away by giving out 20 free copies of the book 100 Best-Loved Poems to randomly selected students during lunch. Phillip Rodrigues, a freshman at HHS, said on the Joy of Poetry Day, “I think it is unique because other schools may not celebrate Poetry Day the same as it is at HHS.” Justin Rodrigues, another freshman at HHS, continued to say, “I liked it a lot. My favorite part was giving away free books. I got lots of people to tell me, ‘Wow these are some good poems.’ [That] really got me happy.”

The day concluded with a Joy of Poetry party in the Library Media Center, which featured both a Poetry Read-Aloud and pass-it-on poetry activity. This fun activity had each student in the group write one line of a poem; then, they combined the lines to create a unique, fun poem.

With another fun, creative, and unique day of celebrating poetry, everyone at HHS will be eagerly waiting for next year’s Joy of Poetry Day to come.