Four Florida Tech Students Win Columbia Memorial Poetry Contest

– The poem, “Pigeons in the Sky,” by Joseph Chaulkar, Florida Tech graduate student in mechanical engineering, earned Chaulkar first place and $100 in the
Columbia Memorial Poetry Contest. Other winners were second place, $50, Derek D’Anna, business administration junior; runner up, $25, Oran Gough,
management information systems junior; and runner up, $25, Jonathan Winklbauer, general biology sophomore.

Staff members of the Florida Tech literary magazine, The Belletrist, coordinated the contest. Editor Cheryl Dingman led the committee.

All winning poems will be published in this year’s issue of The Belletrist. The awards were made possible by a grant from the Florida Center for the Book,
matched by a generous donor from the Florida Tech community.

Last October, Florida Tech, a university founded by scientists with deep roots in America’s space program, dedicated a new residence hall complex in memory
of the Space Shuttle Columbia and her crew. The dedication of Columbia Village, with each of the seven residence halls named for a Shuttle Columbia
astronaut, is believed to be the nation’s first such recognition.