Fifth-grade Thomas County Middle School MERIT students, Madison Holton and Raylynn Fykes, were recently named winners of the 2022 River of Words Environmental Art and Poetry Project. Holton was named a national finalist for her poem, The Creek, while Fykes won at the state level for her poem, Laying by the Ocean. Both girls were encouraged to write poems by their science teacher, Ashley Lanatta.

The River of Words Project (ROW) is a program designed to help students understand their sense of place by studying a watershed in their own environment, and then expressing what they discover through poetry and art. The art and poetry is entered into the state-wide contest. Georgia entries are judged by the Georgia Center for the Book and by the GA Environmental Protection Division.

Both girls will be recognized at the Georgia River of Words (ROW) Awards Ceremony that will be held on Sunday, May 1, 2022, at the DeKalb County Library in Decatur, Georgia.