Five students from Independence High School and four from Brentwood Union Elementary School District have been honored as winners of a poetry contest conducted by the Brentwood Arts Commission and the Brentwood Library. The students, seen here with Mayor Bob Taylor, were recognized at a recent Brentwood City Council meeting for writing outstanding poems about one of the five animal statues installed last year at Veterans Park.

Independence High student winners from Mrs. Webb and Mr. Lindeman's classes were Marina Parla, Damian Rodriguez, Megan Woodward, Kiersten Turner and Diamond Doris. Brentwood Elementary School District winners and four students from Edna Hill Middle School included: Sidney Bednarz, Jayme Tachella, Caesar Rodriguez and Emily Lang; and one winner, Adrian Saff, from Adams Middle School.

More than 40 students presented their poems for consideration at a reading event at Gabby's Grind. The winning poems will be engraved on bronze plaques and installed at each statue in Brentwood's Veterans Park.

- Courtesy of Sarah Singrin