The Irene Luetje Poetry Award
The Irene Luetje Poetry Award was started to honor the memory of a member of the Farmingdale State College family who died in 2013. Irene Luetje proudly worked as an administrative assistant for the office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, but she was also an independent scholar and poet whose concern for, and kindness towards students was legendary.
This year two RAM Scholars were among the three recipients for this esteemed award! Rising Junior, Bryan Mendez Andrade a Construction Management Technology Major won for essay submission title "Coming to America" addressing his journey to the states. Xhovani Mali, a rising Senior Computer Engineering Technology Major received this honor for his poem titled "Domino" which is a reflection on diversity and inclusion through Xhovani's eyes.
In addition to pride, recognition and high praise, the award winners also received a $400 Barnes and Noble gift card.
Read the winning entries below:
"Coming to America"
Bryan Mendez Andrade
I was put into a detention center with all of the people who crossed the border between
Mexico and the United States on October 23, 2016. I was only sixteen years old and
had just
finished the longest leg of my journey when an American police officer read me my
Miranda
Rights. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used
against you
in a court of law.” Those words were the first words of English I heard after my difficult
journey
from El Salvador.
I lived in that “prison” for sixteen days. I awoke each day hoping it would be the
day I
could leave and join my mother and father in New York. They had entered the United
States
years earlier and I had not seen them since I was three years old. I had been in the
care of my
grandmother in El Salvador, but my parents had finally established a home for me.
I was scared
in the detention center, but I was no stranger to fear. My journey required me to
sleep outside,
listening to the coyotes and the slithering of snakes. And now I feared I would never
be allowed
to enter the United States, that I would be sent back to the poverty and fear I had
known my
whole life.
On November 10, I was finally told I was being let out - that I was being allowed
to
America and the following day, November 11, was my date to start over. My parents
had made
arrangements for me to get to New York. I was going into the unknown: unknown place,
unknown family, unknown language, but I was ready. I made my way to New York and was
happily and amazingly reunited with my mom and my dad.
The biggest challenge was overcoming my inability to communicate in English. I
enrolled at Bay Shore High School, I slowly began to learn my new language. I worked
diligently on my assignments. I asked my teachers and my peers for help. And these
amazing
people helped me.
I overcame my fears of failing at my new life. I knew that many doors would open for
me. All of the ghosts from my journey gave me the strength to never give up on anything
even when things were really dark.
I knew - just as I did as a traveled from El Salvador - that there is a
light at the end of each path that I take. I am glad to see myself outside of some
dark tunnels.
Although I continue to overcome the struggles with my new language and culture, I
am glad that
those days are gone and that I can use my experiences from my past to become the best
possible
version of me as continue my own American dream.
"Domino"
Xhovani Mali
Complacency is no different than being on the side of the unjust,
or so it’s said, I supported the movement and hoped for the best.
This just in, another dead.
I wake up to this news and feel powerless,
Then I forget. I got so much on my plate there is no time to think,
no time to set.
I grew up in a zoo filled with a medley of people,
and I promise it was no disease, my two childhood friends, one was Mexican,
the other was Chinese.
I loved my friends, but my family decided we had to leave,
We moved to Long Island, where everything was green.
In High School, we were taught America’s history.
Our independence, and segregation, and a man named Jim Crow. When I finally left my town,
Long Island began to look like a domino.
The biggest gift at College was the opportunity to interact with diverse peoples,
Here, there was no domino, different backgrounds incorporated like steeped dough,
My friend taught me about Buddhism,
my other showed me music. Fear has made blaming the vulnerable common time.
I’d hope for a world where we all knit, where we wouldn’t see a spike in hate crime.
But to make a significant change, you should start small,
Or so it’s said. A medley of people so colorful, to start small is to understand them all.
I slept to this thought and felt powerful.
Copyrights © 2021 Bryan Mendez Andrade
Copyrights © 2021 Xhovani Mali
All rights reserved.
