Two students enrolled in Dr. Breanna Craft’s Integrated Science II honors class were recognized for their works submitted in an illustrated poetry contest organized by the American Chemical Society.

Gwen Gersick-Seward ’25 was named the winner of the contest for the New Haven local section, while Betty Weske ’25 received an honorable mention.

The theme of this year’s poetry contest was “The Curious Chemistry of Amazing Algae,” with the ACS judging entries based on word choice and imagery, colorful artwork, originality and creativity, and other criteria.

For winning, Gersick-Seward and Weske received the novel “Slime: How Algae Created Us, Plague Us, and Just Might Save Us,” by Ruth Kassinger, as well as algae-themed journals.

“I hope I’ll grow into algae

Create my own light

And

Illuminate other’s seas

Bloom in the unexpected

And

Have no roots

Not a fish out of water

But

A plant out of land.”

Gersick-Seward

“Biofuels from algae,

A sustainable choice,

A way to reduce emissions,

And silence the noise,

A fuel for the future,

That’s clean and efficient,

A way to power our world,

Without being deficient.”

Weske