A Greenwood 9-year-old has won top honors in a national poetry contest.
Mary Laine Dyksterhouse’s poem “The Seed Who Grew” took first place in the third-grade division in the National Garden Clubs’ annual poetry competition. The award was announced at the organization’s recent National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
“We are very excited,” said Mary Laine’s mother, Kathryn Dyksterhouse. “Mary Laine loves to write, so it’s fun when she has the opportunity to stretch that interest.”
The state poetry chair of the Garden Clubs of Mississippi, Margaret Henderson, who is a member of Greenwood Garden Club, reached out to Mary Laine about submitting a poem for the state contest.
“I knew she was a good writer, so I asked her if she would like to write a poem and send it in,” said Henderson.
Mary Laine’s poem won first place at the state level. Then she advanced to the Deep South regional contest, where she competed with winners from six states in the Southeast and took top honors to advance to the national competition. “This is quite an accomplishment,” said Greenwood Garden Club President Caroline Colquett. “Her poem is really good.”
Henderson said the state had two national winners — the other was a first-grader from McComb.
“National Garden Clubs provides many educational opportunities through competitions for the youth,” said Henderson. “The poetry contest happens to be one of those and is open to students in kindergarten through ninth grade.”
Henderson has served as the state poetry chair since 2016. One of her main duties is overseeing and organizing the poetry competition each year. Henderson said the contest excites and encourages youth to express their creative thoughts through different kinds of poetry.
“National Garden Clubs poetry contest enables our youth to embrace their creativity through the art of writing and be imaginative,” Henderson said.
The honorees of the competition will receive a printed booklet featuring all of the winning poems.
Mary Laine’s winning poem is about a tulip that wants to be another flower, but in the end realizes God made her just the way she needs to be. The theme of the contest was “Let It Grow.”
•Contact Ruthie Robison at 581-7233 or rrobison@gwcommonwealth.com.
