SJA senior Marcus Burns, National Student Poet for the Northeast

SJA senior Marcus Burns (center), National Student Poet for the Northeast, and the other four National Students, recently traveled to New York City to participate in a board meeting for the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers—the nonprofit organization behind the prestigious Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and the National Student Poets Program. The next day on June 11th, Marcus and his four National Student Poet friends were honored on stage at Carnegie Hall, along with other national student gold medalists, at the Scholastic Art and Writing National Awards Ceremony. Marcus was selected as the National Student Poet for the Northeast in mid-July 2024 and is serving a one-year term as a poetry ambassador from August 2024 through August 2025. 

Educators were also honored during the Carnegie Hall celebration. And SJA’s own Mrs. Jennifer Mackenzie was honored with a gold medal in recognition of her outstanding mentorship and lasting impact on Marcus’s writing journey. Marcus would also like to thank Ms. Angela Drew, who also supported him on his path to becoming a National Student Poet! And Mr. Steven Glazer of Crossroads Academy, who played a pivotal role in Marcus’s poetry and personal development when he was in Mr. Glazer’s 7th and 8th grade English classes.  

Next up for Marcus and Mrs. Mackenzie is their participation in the Robert Frost Day at The Frost Place in Franconia, NH, on July 6. Then, as another part of Marcus’ community service project as a National Student Poet, he will host a poetry workshop at Crossroads Academy in Lyme, NH, on July 8. To learn more about Marcus’s poetry workshop, click here: https://www.crossroadsacademy.org/news…/rsvp-for-events/