Our seventh grade was honored on Earth Day with the news that they were collectively one of ten winners of the Creek Seekers Contest, a special prize category of the 14th Annual River of Words Environmental Poetry and Art contest, co-sponsored by the Library of Congress in conjunction with the S.F. Estuary Project. The contest is designed to help youth explore the natural and cultural history of the place they live, and to express, through poetry and art, what they discover.

Our students won for their “found art” project, a few photos from which were in Newsnotes on March 20. After studying the local watershed ecology in science class, and the work of Andy Goldsworthy in art, the students headed up to the top of the Strawberry Creek watershed in Berkeley to do some field science and site-specific artwork using found materials.

The poetry awards are decided by former U.S. Poet Laureate (and BMS guest Poetry Out Loud judge!) Robert Hass and River of Words Executive Director Pamela Michael, and the art awards by children’s book author and artist Thatcher Hurd. Please click to read the seventh graders’ letter from Pamela Michael.