SMALL SCHOOL, BIG IMPACT: Pagosa Charter School Students Selected as Poetry Finalists

Pagosa Peak Open School students (from left) Lexie, Rayleen, Cambria and Jayelle are four of the 20 finalists for the San Juan Youth Poetry Contest. Photo courtesy PPOS.

Pagosa Peak Open School (PPOS) is proud to announce that four of our middle school students have been selected as regional finalists in the 2026 San Juan Youth Poetry Contest. Hosted by the Mountain Studies Institute (MSI), the contest drew more than 150 submissions from students across the region in grades 6-12. Out of just 20 finalists total selected by judges, PPOS students – Rayleen, Lexie, Jayelle, and Cambria – represent 20 percent of all finalists.

The accomplishment is especially remarkable given PPOS’s small student body of just 140 students.

“We are so thrilled and immensely proud of our students,” said PPOS School Director Emily Murphy. “For a school of our size to represent one-fifth of the finalists in a competitive regional contest with over 150 entries speaks volumes about the creativity, dedication, and courage of our young writers. At Pagosa Peak Open School, we aim to cultivate conditions where students feel empowered to express themselves; and seeing their artistic voices recognized on this scale is exciting.”

The finalist poems have been forwarded to Colorado State Poet Laureate Crisosto Apache, who will evaluate the entries to select three overall winners in each age division.

Middle School ELA Advisor Alison Beach shared about the depth of talent and effort her students brought to their work.

“There are some excellent poets in this school,” Beach said. “The eighth-graders have been learning about poetics and the power of storytelling through the novel-in-verse ‘The Crossover’ by Kwame Alexander. This story about a basketball-loving teen and his family introduced them to many different types of poems, including occasional poems, definition poems, odes, repetition, time stamp poems, found material poems and free verse. For the contest many students used these poetic types and devices masterfully to write about the San Juan Mountains.”

The student finalists also expressed their excitement about the recognition:

“I was so surprised,” Rayleen said. For her poem structure, she chose to write an ‘occasional’ poem and shared that she learned so much from this year’s ELA class.

“I hadn’t even written a poem before this school year,” Jayelle said, who wrote a found materials poem for the contest and agreed that the lessons in class helped immensely with her ability to compete in this contest.

While all the poems focused on the theme of the San Juan Mountains, each poem took a different perspective.

“I focused on the snow melting into spring,” Cambria said. “It’s a rhyming poem that focuses on the experiences we have in the mountains.”

All 20 regional finalists are invited to attend the San Juan Youth Poetry Contest Winners Celebration, hosted by the Mountain Studies Institute at the Durango Public Library on Friday, November 6, at 6pm. Winners will be announced by Colorado State Poet Laureate Crisosto Apache, prizes will be awarded, and student finalists will read their work.

Additionally, all finalist poems will be featured in a special exhibition on display at the Durango Public Library throughout the months of November and December.

Here are three of the winning poems:

Rockies
by Lexie

Driving up.
Driving down.
Looking to the left.
Looking to the right.
I see the great Rockies.
They stand tall and proud.
The green grasses and trees.
With the billy goats near its feet.
As they graze on the sweet grass.
The river runs through the mountains.
The peaceful sounds of the San Juan.
It’s simply like a sweet, sweet, sweet lullaby.

Gateway of the Ancients
by Jayelle

Here
You feel
Different,
Connected
To the people
Of this landscape.
Those enormous
Ancient
Mountains all like gateways,
To a land of red and orange
Sunsets, and debris
Cascading
Down the mountainsides.
You walk into this,
Erosional remnant,
A caldera.
Glaciers
Altered this wild
Place, worth a million dollars.
At this elevation,
Winter could be severe.
You can’t stay here.
In this massive site.
Realizing,
As waterfalls pour down,
That you are a
Speck.
A speck amongst ancients.

There is Nothing Better
by Rayleen

There is Nothing Better
Than the memories we gain on the long trips
There is nothing better than
Than that sunset on Mt. Sneffels
There is nothing better
Than the jagged peaks of the mountains
There is nothing better
Than the vibrant high-alpine lakes
There is nothing better
Than the exploration of the mountain towns, the adventure
Of the hike
There is nothing better
Than the heart of the San Juan Mountains
It’s a shame we take it all for granted.