HCCC President Dr. Christopher Reber said the College instituted its Student Poet Laureate program last Spring, and selected Natalie Akel as the inaugural Student Poet Laureate. “Hudson County Community College is one of few two- or four-year colleges to have such a program. It is a tribute to the talent and creativity of our students, faculty, and community,” he stated. “We are enormously proud of our Student Poet Laureate program, and especially our very first Student Poet Laureate, Natalie Akel.”  

The HCCC Student Poet Laureate program was created by HCCC Assistant Professor of English, Eric Adamson, and the HCCC Poetry and Language Collective, a 16-member body that includes faculty, administrators and students from several disciplines and departments, and Jersey City’s current Poet Laureate, Susan Justiniano. Selection as an HCCC Student Poet Laureate is an honor that will be bestowed each year on a student who represents the community through their poetry. As is the custom, the HCCC Student Poet Laureate recites their works at major College events – such as Commencement, College Service Day, and the HCCC Foundation Gala – and at poetry workshops in area elementary and middle schools as a representative of the HCCC poetic voice. The HCCC Student Poet Laureates’ works will be archived in the College’s Gabert Library, displayed in the Dineen Hull Gallery, and published in the HCCC Crossroads literary magazine.  

Natalie Akel is a first-generation American whose family emigrated here from the Dominican Republic and Lebanon. At first glance, Ms. Akel may seem an unlikely person to hold the inaugural Student Poet Laureate title. Soft-spoken and quick to flash her warm smile, she graduated from the University of Vermont with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 2017. After spending some time deciding between social work and nursing, she chose to continue her education at Hudson County Community College as a nursing major. She is presently a full spectrum doula and plans to become a midwife.  

Writing poetry has long been a means for Ms. Akel to process, express, and/or escape her feelings. Her writing integrates themes of nature, love, and issues of social and reproductive justice, and is rich with imagery of the everyday and the imagined.  

Being selected as the HCCC Student Poet Laureate is not the first time her writing has been recognized. “My love of poetry and the poetry community blossomed during high school,” she said. In 2011, as a Red Bank High School student, she won the coveted Silver Medal in the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards competition, whose past recipients include such literary giants as Bernard Malamud, Sylvia Plath, Truman Capote, John Updike, and Joyce Carol Oates.  

Dr. Reber said: “Audre Lorde, the American poet, feminist, and civil rights activist wrote, ‘Poetry is not only dream and vision; it is the skeleton architecture of our lives. It lays the foundations for a future of change, a bridge across our fears of what has never been before.’ That summarizes the significance of our Student Poet Laureate program.”  

In the newest HCCC Out of the Box podcast, Dr. Reber converses with Professor Adamson and Ms. Akel, who talks about her love of poetry, and recites one of her touchingly beautiful poems. The community is invited to view and enjoy the podcast at https://www.hccc.edu/news-media/outofthebox/2022/student-poet-laureate-program.html.  

 

About Hudson County Community College  

Hudson County Community College serves more than 18,000 credit and non-credit students annually. The College offers nearly 80 degree and certificate programs, including award-winning English as a Second Language, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), Culinary Arts/Hospitality Management, Nursing and Health Sciences, and Fine and Performing Arts. The HCCC Culinary/Hospitality Management program was ranked number six in the U.S. by Best Choice Schools. Over 94% of HCCC Nursing program graduates passed the NCLEX the first time out, placing the program’s graduates in the top tier of two- and four-year nursing programs nationwide. In 2017, the Equality of Opportunity Project ranked HCCC in the top 5% of 2,200 U.S. higher education institutions for social and economic mobility.  

HCCC has partnerships with every major four-year college and university in the greater New Jersey-New York area and beyond, accommodating seamless transfer of credits for further undergraduate and graduate education.