The Foundation for WAPS is pleased to announce 10 student winners of its annual Haake Poetry Contest. Prizes were awarded at Winona Middle School and Winona Senior High School.
Winona Middle School
• 1st – $200 – Lilia Blahnik – Delicate Silence
• 1st – $200 – Swin Schul – Judgment Dreams
• 2nd – $100 – Addie Hansen – Thunder
• 2nd – $100 – Jonathan Spalding – Saturday
• 2nd – $100 – Nora Pollock – I Sit in my Chair at School
Winona Senior High School
• 1st – $200 – Ashiiyah Alexander – Lockdown Lullabies
• 1st – $200 – Marina Narvaez – The Tragedy of the Foreign Man
• 2nd – $100 – Morwyn Johnson – Nostalgia
• 2nd – $100 – Jacob Sheridan – Ode to the Wind
• 2nd – $100 – Xitlali Martinez Carbajal – Questioning My Dreams
A total of 113 poems were entered in the contest, with 63 from WMS and 50 from WSHS. All entries were assigned a code and student names were removed for the judging process. Judges included Winona community members Eileen Dahlin, Ken McCullough, and Marcia Ratliff.
In 2008, Dr. Paul Haake initiated a fund with the Foundation for WAPS in memory of his father, Arnold, who was known for his love of poetry during his years at WSHS. The purpose of the fund was to support an annual poetry contest for WMS and WSHS students. Paul was a 1950 WSHS graduate who retained a strong bond to his hometown, giving generously to Winona’s educational institutions. He earned a BA and PhD from Harvard and went on to become a distinguished research chemist and educator at Wesleyan University and UCLA.
