NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Middle school students from throughout the City School District of New Rochelle came together to showcase their poetry, art, music and filmmaking in the fourth annual Arts Out Loud festival on Wednesday.
The students from Isaac E. Young and Albert Leonard Middle Schools recited poems of all manner of topics, including race, loneliness, outer space and home. The event joins students from the two schools as one family and sets them on the path for New Rochelle High School together.
“I must say, our students are sending us some powerful messages tonight,” IEYMS Assistant Principal Tawanda Robinson said.
On the lighter side, the poems even included an ode to chocolate. Musical compositions by other students also entertained the audience in the Whitney M. Young, Jr. Auditorium at New Rochelle High School.
“The festival is a night dedicated to the hopes, dreams, angst, passion, heart and soul of today’s young adults and tomorrow’s leaders,” said ALMS Principal John Barnes.
The celebration was presented by the District, the New Rochelle Fund for Educational Excellence and the Jeremy Scheinfeld Publishing Center.