By Christina Leslie | Staff Writer

Have you ever written a poem worth $80,000?

Krysten Krulik, a senior in Mater Dei Prep, Middletown, has. Her poem, “What the Sphinx Said to the Sea,” won top honors in the 30th annual DeSales University High School Poetry Festival, garnering Krulik a four-year, full tuition scholarship to the Center Valley, Pa., university named for the patron saint of journalists and writers.

English teacher Elana Maloney encouraged Krulik and her fellow Mater Dei students to submit poetry to the annual competition which draws hundreds of entries from high school seniors throughout Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey and has the largest prize award in the country. “I thought, ‘why not?’ and submitted three poems in mid-October,” remembered Krulik, who had seen her poetry published during her term as co-editor of St. Mary School, Middletown’s “The Heavenly Herald” newspaper while a student there.

Word that Krulik’s “Sphinx” submission had won the competition arrived at Mater Dei Prep later that month, but the senior was purposely left unaware of her victory. “The teachers knew, the entire administration knew except for me,” Krulik laughed during a recent conversation with The Monitor. “Mrs. Maloney took me and a few other students for a college visit Oct. 31, and said it would be good to attend the poetry festival.”

The group from Mater Dei heard guest poet Ross Gay read from his works, then stood with the hundreds of other attendees as DeSales University President Father Bernard O’Connor announce that Krulik had been chosen as the winner of the festival.

“They announced it right there! It was amazing,” Krulik remembered. “I thought, ‘this has to be a joke,’ and was looking for Ashton Kutcher [host of the television show ‘Punk’d] to pop out.”

Krulik, a varsity cheerleader at Mater Dei who also serves as co-president of the National Honor Society, vice president of the Spanish club and a member of the creative writing club, is pleased about the award of a four-year, full tuition scholarship (with a current value of $80,000) as she contemplates her future education path. “I’m definitely considering [attending DeSales], but I’m keeping my options open right now,” she said frankly. The student plans to double major in English and International Relations with a concentration in Arabic studies, but will always leave time to express herself in verse.

Maloney expressed her pride in her student’s accomplishments, noting, “I’ve know for a while that her writing is exceptional, but winning this award is confirmation of her talent. Truly good poetry is difficult to write, and to have such command of the art form and language at such a young age is an amazing gift.”