UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Several young poets received accolades for their literary works as part of the 2025 WPSU Poetry Writing Contest. Nearly 300 students in kindergarten through 12th grade from across 20 counties in Pennsylvania submitted poems as part of the annual competition, which is an extension of the station’s “Poetry Moment.” The FM radio program highlights poets from across the commonwealth.
The poems were reviewed by 34 community volunteers and Penn State faculty and staff. The top three poems from each grade-level category were sent to “Poetry Moment” host and contest judge, Marjorie Maddox, who selected the following winners:
- “Around You” by Anke Zhu, first-grade student from State College.
Category: Kindergarten – Second Grade. - “Words of Regret” by Summer Crozier, fifth-grade student from Warren.
Category: Third – Fifth Grade. - “Remembrance” by Samantha Strieby, seventh-grade student from Lewisburg.
Category: Sixth – Eighth Grade. - “Human/divine” by Ella Wise, 11th-grade student from Summerhill.
Category: Ninth – 12th Grade.
Listen to the poets present their works on “Poetry Moment: Youth Voices” or read all of the finalists’ poems online at 2025 WPSU Poetry Writing Contest Winners.
Anke Zhu is a first-grade student from State College. Her poem “Around You” was selected as the winning entry from students in the Kindergarten – Second Grade category.
“Around You”
Dark flowers bloom,
Even if you cannot see them.
A squirrel hears a flowing river rushing by.
An anxious crow holds a twig in the sunlight.
Branches fill the sky like dark lightning bolts.
We are small,
But our hearts may fill up the sky.
We all often hear different things,
But we shall not be deterred by what others think.
— Anke Zhu, 2025
Zhu said she reads a lot, and drawing helps her visualize her poems.
“I like nature, squirrels and birdies. I would always look for them when we took a walk, and they were just so cute. I just can't stop looking at them,” Zhu said. “When I was writing this poem, I was thinking of the birdies building a nest and I remembered them holding a twig. And I thought of a fly, it might look tiny, but it can do lots of things, like eating all the trash. We learned how to write poems this year at school as well. I wrote one about puppies.”
Samantha Strieby is a seventh-grade student from Lewisburg. Her poem “Remembrance” was selected as the winning poem for the Sixth – Eighth Grade category.
“Remembrance”
There once was a time
When I was the queen
Of the lichen and sap
Decorating the trees.
They would listen
Whenever I called their name
And the rain
Falling so heavily
Yet so frail
Like collapsing into the moss
Carried my song through the day
And refracted it golden in the sun.
Whenever I couldn’t sleep
Or felt like a den abandoned by the badger
Reverent silence would lullaby me
Into the dawn
Entering the following day
Singing through the window.
I used to rule the only world I knew
When the celestial bodies would glance down
Their glowing pupils following me.
I think now
They knew all along
That I would look back at them one day
And I would see
The twinkling and winking
Like they were trying to tell me
That no matter how I changed
The stars would stay
And I could reach for them anytime.
— Samantha Strieby, 2025
Strieby began writing poetry in fifth grade. She said the inspiration for her poem came to her one night when she looked up at the clouds and saw two perfectly aligned stars making them look like a pair of eyes.
“It made me think about how the stars are the same ones that have watched over me since I was younger, and the same stars that had done the same for generations before me,” Strieby said. “At first, I didn’t like writing because of all the rules but then learned about free-verse poetry, which I enjoy. For the future, I want to continue writing poetry for self-expression and as a hobby. I don’t plan on pursuing it as a full-time career but will continue to enjoy the freedom of writing poems.”
WPSU-TV, a PBS member station, serves 24 counties in central Pennsylvania and reaches 515,000 households, and WPSU-FM is accessible to more than 450,000 listeners in 13 counties. The public media station also includes WPSU Digital Studios, which offers original web series that explore science, arts and culture.
WPSU is a unit of Penn State Outreach.