WT’s Texas Poets’ Corner Honors Student Writers

MEDIA CONTACT: Chip Chandler, 806-651-2124, [email protected]

CANYON, Texas - West Texas A&M University student authors were honored for their creative and scholastic work at the Texas Poets' Corner annual Evening of Celebration.

Four students were honored March 31 at the event, held in Cornette Library.

The Texas Poets' Corner was established in 2003 in WT's Cornette Library. In 2021, it was bequeathed a $2.8 million estate gift by the late Dr. Jenny Lind Porter Scott, a former Texas Poet Laureate and WT assistant professor of English. The Texas Poets' Corner sponsors annual poetry and history scholarship competitions for students, among other outreach efforts.

Jenny Lind Porter Poetry Contest winners recognized at the event were John-Ruben Medina, a senior general studies major from Amarillo, for "A Place to Write," and Samantha Wilhelm, a junior public relations, advertising and applied communication major from Canyon, for "A Backward Glance."

History essays honored were "A Fire Death and Its Lingering Ash: Regional Literacy Through the Death of Amarillo Fire Department's Kenneth Caldwell" by August Vinson, a senior history major from Amarillo, and "Dress Codes and Pigs: Second Wave Feminism and College Campuses" by Abby Whetzel, a senior English major from Amarillo.

"Jenny Lind's vision for the Texas Poets' Corner was to be a place to expose WT students and the community to fine poetry, literature, music and art, as well as Texas history through lectures and performances," said Shawna Kennedy-Witthar, Cornette Library's director of information and library resources. "We look forward every year to celebrating the creativity of our students' poetry and essays."

Porter, who published her first poem at age 14, served as Texas Poet Laureate in 1964 and 1965, was the author of several collections and books, and was named to the Texas Women's Hall of Fame in 1985.

The Texas Poets' Corner also unveiled a new acquisition: A Limited Editions Club edition of the Declaration of Independence, bound in homespun fabric and printed on handmade paper. It is No. 262 of 500 copies.

More than 300 Limited Editions Club books were donated to Texas Poets' Corner in 2022 by the estate of Kenneth Seyffert, author of the 2001 book "Birds of the Texas Panhandle." Seyffert was a self-educated man whose interests included literature, arts, music and ornithology.

The book club was formed in 1929 to offer limited editions of classic titles in small quantities to collectors.

The Texas Poets' Corner event helps fulfill WT's desire to provide access to intellectual resources, insight and wisdom, as set out in the University's long-range plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World.

That plan is fueled by the historic One West comprehensive fundraising campaign, which reached its initial $125 million goal 18 months after publicly launching in September 2021. The campaign, which is now winding down, has raised more than $175 million.

About West Texas A&M University

A Regional Research University, West Texas A&M University is redefining excellence in Canyon, Texas, on a 342-acre residential campus, as well as the Harrington Academic Hall WTAMU Amarillo Center in downtown Amarillo. Established in 1910, the University has been part of The Texas A&M University System since 1990. WT boasts an enrollment of more than 9,000 and offers 66 undergraduate degree programs, including eight associate degrees; and 44 graduate degrees, including an integrated bachelor's and master's degree, a specialist degree and two doctoral degrees. WT recently earned a Carnegie Foundation classification as a Research College and University. The Buffaloes are a member of the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference and offers 16 men's and women's athletics programs.

Photo: Winners of the 2026 Texas Poets' Corner writing contests are, from left, Abby Whetzel, August Vinson and Samantha Wilhelm. Not pictured is John-Ruben Medina.

-WT-