Aurora Quest K-8

Award-Winning Poets at Aurora Quest K-8
Written by the APS Communication Department

Throughout each school year, students at Aurora Quest K-8 enter their poetry in contests, in hopes that their creative writing will be enjoyed, acknowledged, and published. Numerous students have seen this dream realized throughout the years.

This past spring, the poetry of Maddie Heiken and Austin Layne, along with that of other classmates, was published by Creative Communications. The great news is that Maddie and Austin, current fourth graders, were just selected as “one of the top ten poets in the contest” in their K-3 age range. This honor comes with a $50 savings bond and a complimentary copy of the Creative Communications poetry anthology.

Congratulations to both Maddie and Austin!!

When I am by Myself

When I am by myself
I am a candle in the night
Lasting on and on, burning bright
I am a rainforest day
A Shakespeare play
I am the sword of a knight
Shimmering in the light
I am Mayan architecture
Breaking down by the elements day by day
I am a drop of water blowing in the wind
I am a hawk soaring through the sky
I am a quarter passed by hundreds
I am a piece of art viewed by many
And when I widen my eyes, what I see
Is something excellent and that is me

Austin Layne, grade 3
Aurora Quest K-8

Puddle of Darkness

Lava
Burning
High up
To the sky
And dropping back to
Where it began
And repeating the process
Again and
Again and
Again
‘Til the lava
Calms down…and dries up
By the rain
Into a puddle of
Darkness bubbling and boiling
The hotness goes away
And a puddle of darkness
Becomes a puddle of sadness
Nothing left but a
Puddle of nature’s tears
In its place

Madalyne Heiken, grade 3
Aurora Quest K-8

Several students at Aurora Quest K-8 entered their outstanding poems, essays, and fictional stories in several contests across the nation recently.

Seventh-grade student Salamasina Fifita won the “Do the Write Thing” contest, sponsored by the National Campaign to Stop Youth Violence. She presented her work in Washington D.C. at the Library of Congress. Fafita is now an ambassador to stop youth violence.

Soleil Worthy (on left)

Three Colorado students were top winners of the state’s Lincoln Bicentennial Scholastic Contest and recognized at an Awards Ceremony on Saturday, June 20th at Mountain Range High School in Westminster.

Lincoln & The West Scholastic Contest Lincoln Speakers WINNERS OF COLORADO LINCOLN SCHOLASTIC CONTEST

First Prize of $500 went to Soleil Worthy, 7th-grader from Aurora Quest K-8 School, for her poem “Be Like Lincoln.” Second Prize of $400 went to Raine Reilly, 2nd-grader from Independence Academy in Grand Junction, for his collage of “How Me and Abe Are Alike.”  Third Prize of $300 went to Matthew Menezes, 11th-grader from Monarch High School in Louisville, for his essay “From Hypocrisy, the Way to Utopia.”