Once a year, DOOR Magazine’s Poetry Café celebrates the students in Pelham for their talents in English and arts. On April 8, Poetry Café was held in room 237 throughout the school day. English classes from all grades converged in the Poetry Café to appreciate their fellow peers’ poetry, as well as to enjoy the baked goods and refreshments.

Every year, DOOR invites all students of PMHS to submit their best poetry and photos to be reviewed by the DOOR club. The club, after contemplating the great submissions from all the best poets and photographers of Pelham and anonymously voting, decided upon winners.

Madeline Bryce, the president of the DOOR club said, “The decision was very difficult, because there were so many excellent submissions. However, the submissions that weren’t chosen for Poetry Café will be reviewed for the chance to be in DOOR Magazine, so many will still get to be published.”

This year, the winner of the poetry part of the DOOR’s competition was freshman Caitlin Winston, and the winner of the photography competition was senior Cassie Blagman.

As a freshman, this was Winston’s first submission, and she was very excited to be featured and display her love for English and the arts.

“I look forward to my English class everyday, as I enjoy the discussions that we have,” Winston said. “I love the mysteries and secret meanings of books, and the excitement I get from figuring out what something means. I enjoy getting to go to another world and escape from the stresses of day to day life.”

Blagman expressed her gratitude to DOOR for her win and to PMHS for helping showcase her love of the arts in a way that made her comfortable.

“I love art so much because it not only makes me happy but it makes my friends and family happy as well,” she said. “I’m not very comfortable expressing my opinions with words in big crowds or even in class sometimes but art and photography gives me the chance to show everyone what’s on my mind.”