Coolidge Middle School Students Place in Science Poetry Contest

Five Coolidge Middle School students placed in Dr. Ladd's Massachusetts Science Poetry contest this year.

The Massachusetts Science Poetry Contest, for students in kindergarten through eighth grade, was started by Boston College Professor Dr. George Ladd 23 years ago, according to the contest's website.

There were over 900 entries this year and five students from Reading placed, according to Coolidge Middle School Teacher Andrea Bruno.

Nora Faulkner won first place in the sixth grade long category with "Science Is..."

"Nora is only the third, first place winner we have had in the 10 years that we have participated," Bruno said.

Abby Young, Isabella Collins and Erin O'Neil won third place in the sixth grade cooperative category with "Stop Ruining the Environment."

Hannah Jung won Honorable Mention in the sixth grade original category with "Friction."

"Each year we receive more and more poems in different languages, yet the creativity of children comes through with the limited vocabulary they have to draw from," Ladd said on the contest website.

Ladd got the idea for the contest after watching a teacher in western Massachusetts reading science poetry to her students. He decided to create the contest, which "encourages students to fuse their knowledge of the world of science with their writing skills and creativity."

A book of winning poems is compiled after the contest and can be ordered by visiting the contest website.