World Of Expression Program Honors New York High School Talent With Scholarships
Last Wednesday night, Bertelsmann’s World of Expression (WOE) Scholarship Program held its 12th annual awards ceremony and celebration at
This year’s show, which was appropriately titled “WOE ONSTAGE,” drew an audience of more than 325 winners, teachers, friends, and executives. The WOE scholarship winners performed rap, jazz, rock, and R&B and read poetry, fiction, memoir and spoken word. Doubleday’s Myla Goldberg, author of the widely acclaimed novel Bee Season and the forthcoming Wickett’s Remedy, and President and Publisher of Random House Children’s Books Chip Gibson, presented the awards. Bonnie Ammer, Executive Vice President and Publisher at Large, Random House Worldwide, said “I enjoyed being a judge and I think the kids last night are very very talented.”
WOE Program Director Melanie Fallon-Houska organized and hosted the event, which began with a pop rock performance of the song "In Touch With You” by First Place Winner James Pollis and his band, which included his 15-year-old younger brother on the drums. First place Memoir Winner, David Jiang, then read aloud from his humorous yet contemplative account of a near-death experience from his memoir “Momento Mori.” Spoken Word Performance of Brooklyn's Best of Borough winning poem "In My Hood," written by Tameka McCrackin and performed by Urban Word's Elizabeth Acevedo, was clearly an audience favorite. In her award-winning poem, Tameka reflects on life and survival in what she refers to as her “hood.”
