Young poets blooming on campus

By Morgan Steger
The Collegian

MORE THAN 3,000 poetry and literature loving elementary school students will take over Fresno State’s campus Thursday and Friday as the 48th annual Peach Blossom Festival bursts into full bloom.

The first through sixth-grade students, representing more than 200 elementary schools from throughout the Central Valley, will recite popular children’s poetry and prose in their quest to earn a “Superior” rating from judges made up of Fresno State students and staff.

The festival, sponsored by the Communication Department, was created in order to foster a love of literature and public speaking in children, while at the same time introducing them to a vibrant college campus, in the hopes of encouraging them to pursue a higher education, said festival director Linda Carvalho-Cooley.

“If you can create a love for public speaking when you are young then you don’t have a negative view of it later on,” Carvalho-Cooley said.

Participants recite their chosen pieces from memory and are judged on eye contact, voice quality, body movement and overall performance. In the end they are only competing with themselves, Carvalho-Cooley said. “Once they come here, then they’re just trying to perform their best,” she said.

Carvalho-Cooley, who is running the Peach Blossom Festival for the second time, said she participated in it herself, as an elementary student in the 1970s. She still remembers the line she performed in a group poem and said being a part of the festival was important to her as a child. “That was my big moment, I guess, in third-grade,” she said.

The festival is organized by a committee of 14 hand-selected students, most of whom are communication majors, Carvalho-Cooley said. The students are responsible for arranging all the details from fundraising to publicity. “I just guide,” Carvalho-Cooley said.

WHITNEY FISHER, PUBLICITY coordinator for the festival, said the highlight of visiting the campus for most of the children is getting to meet Fresno State athletes. Every year, the student committee arranges for a group of athletes to sign autographs and interact with the festival attendees. “I like seeing how excited the kids are just to talk or shake hands with the athletes,” she said.

Having a meet and greet with college athletes is just one way in which festival coordinators hope to inspire young children to start thinking about going to college at a young age. “We try to show them how fun college can be,” Fisher said.

For some of the student-competitors, especially those from low-income schools, participating in the festival at Fresno State may provide the encouragement they need to think seriously about attending college themselves, Carvalho-Cooley said. “For some of them, this might be their only chance to see a college campus,” she said.

Oral interpretation isn’t the only medium of expression students are encouraged to utilize at the festival.

Participants are invited to bring a piece of artwork depicting Fresno State, peach blossoms, literature or a related theme and the top three artists receive a gift certificate to the Kennel Bookstore, Carvalho-Cooley said.

The festival serves more than just local elementary school students, it also helps raise money for the Communication Department, Carvalho-Cooley said. Each year student coordinators design and sell a T-shirt to recoup the cost of putting on the festival. Any additional money made through the sale of the $10 shirts goes to help pay for graduate students to attend conferences, she said.

The festival will be centered on Ricchiuti Plaza. . Elementary students will compete in the John Wright Theatre, the Satellite Student Union and classrooms throughout campus from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. both days, she said. Fresno State students and others who would like to have a peek at young competitors channeling Shel Silverstein are welcome to do so at either the theatre or the SSU, Carvalho-Cooley said.

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