BIDDEFORD — “A loon dormant on a cottoned lake, she floats. Coveted thoughts locked inside cavernous ruins. Her doe-eyes, her balmed bed-skin, placid. As frost-eaten elk.”

This is a verse from “Apostasy,” one of the award-winning poems by Biddeford High School student Victoria Eon, a senior.

Eon is one of three area students who attended the Regional Fine Arts writing program, taught by poet Andrew Periale, who received Gold Key recognition through the Scholastic Arts & Writing Competition.

Of more than 200,000 regional submissions, Eon and the two other students from the writing program were among 13,000 who submitted work that was chosen to be judged at the national level. Winners will be announced March 15.

In addition, Eon is one of five students chosen from the New England region for the American Vision and Voices competition.

Prior to taking writing courses through the Regional Fine Arts program in her sophomore year, Eon, who plans to study medicine when she graduates, said she wasn’t much of a writer.

As a result of her work in the program, she said she’s now “addicted to writing.”

“It’s a stress release,” she said.

Whether or not she will pursue creative writing professionally along with a medical career is unclear, said Eon. However, she said she plans to take creative writing courses in college and continue writing for herself.

According to Eon, working with Periale, who is a practicing poet, was important in her development as a writer.

“He challenged us,” she said, and he helped me “find my voice.”

Gail Roller, the head of the Biddeford School Department’s gifted and talented program and coordinator of the Regional Fine Arts program that is hosted by Biddeford, said while Biddeford’s English teachers are very good, getting to work with a professional poet provides the students with a different perspective.

The Regional Fine Arts program is especially important to developing writers among Biddeford students, she said, because there is only one creative writing class at the high school.

Because of the academic requirements by the state, there is limited time for electives, said Roller. That’s too bad, she said, because many students could benefit from more creative writing courses.

The Regional Fine Arts program is 20 years old, said Roller. High school students who participate in the program come not only from BHS but also from Old Orchard Beach High School, Marshwood High School, Noble High School, Massabesic High School and Bonny Eagle High School.

Besides the writing class, the Regional Fine Arts Program offers intensive classes in dance and movement, theater, oil painting and opera.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.