The Experiment Student Wins New York Times’ Poetry Contest

The Experiment is proud to announce that Debby Nguyen, a Vietnamese student who will be on the 2018 The Experiment Leadership Institute’s India: Community Development & Public Health program, has been named a winner of the New York Times’ Ninth Annual Found Poem Student Contest. In the contest, students were challenged to compose a short poem based on any New York Times article published in their 167-year history. This year, 2,400 teenagers entered the competition.

Debby’s poem, Women’s Voices, is based on the 2017 New York Times article, From Ancient Myths to Modern Day, Women and the Struggle for Power.

Women’s Voices

During a spring as cold as this one, it is easy to miss
Women’s voices.

The very sound of their voices, it was believed, could sink the state
Its pitch and prattle — dangerous —
proof of their wickedness.

Women’s voices
Hide under a quarter with room to spare,
Their tongues torn out, turned into trees or animals,
Most people never notice them.

Debby and ten other winners will be published in the New York Times from June 12-26. To learn more about The Experiment programs, click here.