Ticket to imagination

Writers in the Schools hosted its most successful fundraising gala at The Astorian. About 350 guests gathered for “Ticket to Imagination” to support quality creative writing instruction. Chairs were Laura and Michael Pipkin, and auction chairs were Kalinda Campbell and Seema Mir. The 11th annual gala raised $225,000. This year’s event honored Dr. Lenora Noroski from Texas Children’s Hospital. Former Houston and Southwest regional youth poet laureate Jackson Neal emceed and reflected on his journey from his first poetry slam. Neal introduced Houston’s new youth poet laureate, Madison Petaway, a junior at Westbury High School. WITS students Michelle Nguyen, Henry Botros and Diego Coreas read original poems. Guests were treated to travel-inspired poetry written in real time by WITS students.

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