One hundred unique poems written by Whittier College Poets were printed on mugs which will be served to customers of Uptown Whittier’s new restaurant Auntie’s Bakery and Café. These mugs were inspired by the words of Whittier College students, faculty and staff who participated in Auntie’s Bakery inaugural poetry contest that encouraged poetic expression among the Whittier College community.
“My intention was to create a platform and synergy between Uptown Whittier and Whittier College,” said co-owner of Auntie’s Café and Whittier College student Gio Alonso. “It was a way of challenging as many students as possible and the turn out — I got to say — was pretty remarkable.”
After reviewing hundreds of original short poems, Alonso, along with business partner and longtime Whittier resident Leeba Lessin, decided on the top three winners of the contest, who were awarded a cash prize along with their own personalized coffee mugs. A contest celebration was held at Hoover Hall in March where all participants received a complimentary custom mug as well.
Brianna Sahagian '17 took first prize for her poem entitled “Prism.” Sahagian saw this event as a great opportunity to get published in a unique way. As a Storytelling and Spirituality major in the Whittier Scholars Program, she finds a lot of inspiration for her poetry in her spirituality. “A lot of my poetry is worship and psalm poetry,” said Sahagian. Second place was awarded as a tie between students Rebecca Briggs '16 for her poem Traffic and Derek Blankenship '16 with Biking Beijing.
Alonso found this event as a fun way to engage students and allow them to express themselves. “I felt that Uptown was missing something that developed communities have that cater to college students,” said Alonso. “Uptown needs a place where students can feel that they can do their homework and bounce ideas off of each other and just inspire one another.”
Alonso, who has a background in business, joined the Poet family last January as a philosophy major. “I am a late bloomer, but I really want to continue my education,” Alonso said. “It has been a personally enriching experience so far; the classes are smaller and it allows for more interaction.”
Faculty members who submitted their own poetry - including the Whittier College President, Sharon Herzberger, Professor of English Tony Barnstone, librarians Laurel Crump, Mike Garabedian, Kathy Filatreau and Visiting Professor of English Katy Simonian all dropped by during the contest celebration to receive a copy of their poems printed on a mug.
Barnstone expressed his enthusiasm for this community-oriented event. “I think events like this celebrate student creativity and encourage students to see poetry as a collaborative and artistic process,” he said. “We are the fighting Poets after all.”
by Lightmary Flores '17
