A poetry activity May 6 in Sewickley not only paid homage to borough history, it also inspired youth to channel poetry and art as a form of expression and healing.

The Sewickley Public Library and Ivy Smith, the Youth Poet Laureate of Allegheny County, led two haiku workshops for students at Quaker Valley Middle School and the Watson Institute, a special education school in Sewickley.

Smith, 17 and a junior at Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School in Beaver County, read the book “Thank You, Dr. Salk! The Scientist Who Beat Polio and Healed the World.” The text is a biography of Dr. Jonas Salk and his journey creating a vaccine — at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine — that ended the polio epidemic.

“We wanted to honor the history of Sewickley, because Dr. Salk did his first clinical trial here,” said Caid Feldmiller, head of teen services at the Sewickley Public Library. “We wanted to develop a workshop for teens, by teens, to honor the exceptional skills they have.”

Salk developed the first safe and effective killed-virus polio vaccine at the University of Pittsburgh, declared effective in 1955 after years of research and trials.

In 1952, Sewickley hosted the first clinical trials of Salk’s polio vaccine.

Smith connected Salk’s perseverance and dedication creating the vaccine to the healing power words and creativity have through writing and poetry.

Students, guided by Smith, wrote their own haiku poems. A haiku is a traditional form of Japanese poetry usually consisting of three unrhymed lines with a 5-7-5 syllable structure. Often, haikus focus on nature.

“By virtue of doing this, I got to learn more about polio,” said Smith, of Moon Township. “I saw a lot of parallels between covid and polio.”

The initiative was part of Remake Learning Days, an initiative that promotes hands-on learning experiences.

Smith said the poetry activity was important for children, especially during a national decline in literacy rates.

“Kids are not reading or writing as much as they used to, and that’s unfortunate,” she said. “The theme of the presentation is that writing is healing for me. If they haven’t considered it before, they might consider it as an outlet for healing.”

Jules Abbott, an eighth grade student at Quaker Valley, enjoyed the activity. She enjoys writing.

“It’s a creative activity,” said Abbott, 14. “I’m a dancer, and it corresponds.”