USC Fifth-Grader Wins Regional Poetry Contest

UPPER ST. CLAIR, PA - Boyce Middle School fifth grader Dante Franks won first place in the third-fifth grade category of the 2019 National Chemistry Week Illustrated Poem Contest sponsored by the Pittsburgh Section of the American Chemical Society.

Dante’s poem “The World of Metals” was among 76 works submitted from 17 different schools in the Pittsburgh region. The contest was open to students in kindergarten through grade 12 in southwestern Pennsylvania, the northern panhandle of West Virginia and Jefferson County in Ohio.

First-place winners will receive $50 and their poems entered into a national contest where they will compete against entries from 188 ACS local sections from across the United States. Students who earned second place will receive $25.

Students were tasked with writing and illustrating a poem using the National Chemistry Week theme, “Marvelous Metals.” Poems could be any style including haiku, limerick, free verse, etc.

Entries were judged on relevance to and incorporation of the theme, word choice and imagery, colorful artwork, adherence to poem style, originality, creativity and overall presentation.