CANYON, Texas — Student poets and historians were honored March 28 at the annual Texas Poets’ Corner spring event.
Poetry awards were given to Debany Arciniega-Saenz, a senior public relations, advertising and applied communication major from Lovington, New Mexico, for “Friendship Is a Beacon in the Storm,” and Abigail Baker, a sophomore pre-nursing major from Perryton, for “A Sunflower’s Ambition.”
Both students read their poems at the March 28 event.
“I love how the students are writing from where they are at in the moment,” said Amarillo poet Raul Rodarte-Suto, who judged the competition. “Their writings are real and raw, and most importantly vulnerable. While one spoke to the value of a deep friendship and the other used a slice-of-life metaphor to speak to a time in their life, both quietly ask us to listen and see them where they are.”
History awards were given to Gabriel Martinez, a graduate student in history from Hereford, for “Colonias in the Texas Panhandle: Housing that Binds,” and Chloe Danielle Barham, a graduate student in history from Amarillo, for “Forgotten History, Remembered Stories: The Asian Diaspora of the Texas High Plains After World War II.”
Both gave summary readings of their papers at the event, as well.
“The writing contest gives students an opportunity to create a published work,” said Dr. Marty Kuhlman, WT’s Dr. Jenny Lind Porter Professor of History. “Both Gabriel and Chloe submitted a well-written and well-researched essay that illustrates the diversity of Panhandle history.”
The Texas Poets’ Corner was established in 2003 in WT’s Cornette Library. In 2021, it was bequeathed a $2.8 million estate gift by the late Dr. Jenny Lind Porter Scott, a former Texas Poet Laureate and WT assistant professor of English.
With that funding, library officials are broadening the reach of the Texas Poets’ Corner by sponsoring poetry and history scholarship competitions for students, among other outreach efforts.
Cornette Library officials also discussed future acquisition plans for the Texas Poets’ Corner. In 2023, rare works of poet Robert Frost were added to the library’s special collection.
Porter, who published her first poem at age 14, served as Texas Poet Laureate in 1964 and 1965, was the author of several collections and books, and was named to the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame in 1985.
Rodarte-Suto is a performance poet born in El Paso but raised in Amarillo. As a first-generation WT graduate, he found his voice in theater and speech performance. He partnered with Daniel C. Ramos to kickstart Slamarillo, a local poetry slam that competed nationally. Rodarte-Suto represented the Texas Panhandle at the Individual World Poetry Slam in Vancouver, Canada. He works with nonprofits as a poverty educator and community volunteer.
The Texas Poets’ Corner event helps fulfill WT’s desire to provide access to intellectual resources, insight and wisdom, as set out in the University’s long-range plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World.
That plan is fueled by the historic One West comprehensive fundraising campaign, which reached its initial $125 million goal 18 months after publicly launching in September 2021. The campaign’s new goal is to reach $175 million by 2025; currently, it has raised nearly $160 million.
Photo: Winners of Texas Poets’ Corner’s poetry and history essay contests are, from left, Gabriel Martinez, Chloe Danielle Barham, Debany Arciniega-Saenz and Abigail Baker.
