A trio of Norfolk Catholic Elementary School students had their poetry works featured in the Opera Omaha's 2023-24 Poetry & Music Project at a performance earlier this month.

The chosen poems were set to music by professional composers Amber Vistein and Sidney Marquez Boquiren, both recent alumni of The American Opera Project Composers & the Voice program.

From the Norfolk (Nebraska) Daily News:

Norfolk Catholic students and titles honored were fifth grader Sylvia Kastl with "Friends" and third graders Jackson Rios with "It Is What It Is" and River Sirek with "US."

The students worked with the composers in developing their pieces and collaborating in the artistic process. The completed works were performed by Opera Omaha artists last Saturday at a free live concert at the Omaha Conservatory of Music.

The poems will be part of the Poetry & Music Project book, which will be distributed and available online.

The three were among 13 total poems selected out of more than 100 submissions from K-12 schools throughout Nebraska and Iowa. Norfolk Catholic was the only school to have three poems selected, and the school's third grade class was the only class to have multiple selections. Selected poems were written by students ranging from third graders to seniors in high school.