UA Poetry Center Announces Winners of 2008 Stanza Bonanza Read-a-Thon

The University of Arizona Poetry Center has announced the winners of the Stanza Bonanza Read-a-Thon which was conducted October 15 to December 15 in 28 Southern Arizona schools. Rio Vista Elementary School (Amphitheatre School District), Townsend Middle School (Tucson Unified School District) and Southern Arizona Community Academy (charter school) read the most poetry in their respective age groups.

In February, each will receive school parties and performances by local poets, additional poetry books for their school libraries, classroom prizes and games.

About Stanza Bonanza
In the late spring of 2008 the Poetry Center, with the help of many generous donors and small book presses, provided 700 books of poetry to 28 schools at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Schools that received kits of 25 books were eligible to participate in the Stanza Bonanza Read-a-Thon, which challenged teachers and students to read and use the recent acquisitions.

The Stanza Bonanza Read-a-Thon reached an estimated 5,000 students, teachers, and parents in the Tucson, Marana, and Amphitheater school districts. Prize packages were awarded to all middle and high students who read 10, 25, 35, and 50 books of poetry. Elementary school students won prizes based on how many minutes they read. Schools also competed against each other to see which school could collectively read the most books.
Following are the statistics on the winning schools:

Elementary Schools

Winner:
Rio Vista Elementary students read 200,957 minutes of poetry.

Runners-Up:
Castlehill Country Day School (private) students read 67,833 minutes
Laura Nobles Banks (TUSD) students read 54,967 minutes
Holladay Intermediate (TUSD) students read 53,427 minutes
Safford (TUSD) students read 49,385 minutes

Middle Schools

Winner:
Townsend Middle students read 3,876 books of poetry.

Runner-Up:
Wakefield (TUSD) students read 1,164 books of poetry.

High School

Winner:
Southern Arizona Community Academy students read 636 books of poetry.

Runner-Up:
Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind students read 325 books

By making great books of poetry available to teachers and students the Poetry Center fostered not only a love for language and reading but a love for learning, creative thinking, and community engagement. The Read-a-Thon promoted these ideals and challenged students not only to read age-appropriate books of poetry, but to analyze and articulate their own responses in innovative ways.

Librarian Jennifer Mullet from Townsend Middle School said, “Many of our students do not speak English as a first language. We are always looking for new ways they can express their thoughts, feelings and emotions. The Read-a-Thon allowed them to read a wide variety of poetry from a diverse group of poets. The students’ reactions and projects showed us that they not only understand the work but can apply it in ways that are meaningful to their lives.”

Rio Vista Elementary School Library Assistant, Stephanie Quimby Green, says “The contest is over and the students are still checking out books from the poetry section of the library. Reading poetry, discussing authors, memorizing poems has helped our students discover a genre often overlooked in our library. Now even our second graders can tell you the call numbers for the poetry section. Third graders are excited to tell you the name of their favorite poet.”

For the Stanza Bonanza Read-a-Thon the Poetry Center received funding from the Pitt Family Foundation and Long Realty Cares Foundation.

For more information on Stanza Bonanza and other programs of the Poetry Center, please visit www.poetrycenter.arizona.edu or call (520) 626-5880. The Poetry Center, a living archive founded in 1960 to maintain and cherish the spirit of poetry, is located at 1508 E. Helen Street in Tucson, one block north of Speedway Blvd. and one block west of Cherry Avenue on the University of Arizona campus.