The 2025 edition of “Young American Poetry Digest” will feature 18 poems from Wantagh Middle School students.

A poetry contest was sponsored in March by the middle school library and coordinated by library assistant Mary DeGregorio. There were two dozen submissions from 20 students, which were submitted to the poetry book that has been published since 1994. Digest editors then selected 18 for its annual edition.

“Poetry really moves your soul,” said Ms. DeGregorio, who dabbles in poem writing herself. “In middle school, students have a lot going on inside that they can get out in a poem.”

All of the poems, which had to be 80 words or less, were also entered into a schoolwide contest. Mira Binckes was the seventh grade winner and Emily McHale was the eighth grade winner. Seventh grader Salem Riahi won the haiku category.

Librarian Amelie Weber said that the contest generated excitement for National Poetry Month, which is held in April. The next edition of the “Young American Poetry Digest” publishes later in the year and the library will receive a copy for its collection because its students are featured.