The College of the Arts, The Hugh A. Glauser School of Music, The Wick Poetry Center and the Fashion school collaborated to present Singing Verse, a recital of new songs by student composers and poets of the Kent Community on Sunday at the Carl. F.W. Ludwig Recital Hall in the performing arts building.

H. Gerry Noh, the project coordinator and assistant professor in the Hugh A. Glauser School of Music, started the program by introducing the coordinators of the project.

The coordinators included, David Hassler of the Wick Poetry Center, Frank Wiley of the Hugh A. Glauser School of Music and Vincent Quevedo of the Fashion School.

David Hassler, of the Wick Poetry Center, said the center didn’t hesitate to participate and bring in poets that have previously submitted to contests and the Traveling Stanzas project.

“We brought to the project poets we worked with on campus, poets we worked with in our community and poets in our staff,” Hassler said.

President Beverly Warren attended the recital and wrote a poem called “Praise Song for Kent State.”

Kent State Music students played instruments while KSU student singers sang and recited poems written by student poets of Kent State and elementary students of the Kent community. Fashion students styled the looks of the performers.

Lauren Roberts, a senior majoring in English as a second language, wrote a poem called “Pushing.” Her piece was sung by Heather Morrisona, a sophomore music major, and with Noh on the piano and the performers’ wardrobe was styled by Aanchal Bakshi.

Roberts said it was an amazing experience to hear her poem sung.

“I’ve read my poems out loud once or twice, but it was amazing to hear it sung by an awesome singer,” Roberts said.

Kahdeejah Humphry, a senior fashion design major, described the event as breathtaking.

“I used to be in band during high school, and I appreciate all music. I loved every minute of it,” Humphry said.

Singing Verse was made possible by the Catalyst Grant from the College of the Arts.

Jillian Holness is the humanities reporter for The Kent Stater, contact her at [email protected].