Wick Poetry Center Celebrates 40th Anniversary with Naming Dedication Ceremony of Gaston Prentice House

The former May Prentice House was recently changed to the Gaston Prentice house amidst their 40^th anniversary. The change comes due to a wonderful donation by Paul Gaston, former Kent State University Provost and Professor of English, and his wife Eileen. I was lucky enough to have been invited to the event on the esplanade, by one of my Creative Writing Professors Alice Cone. While there, I got to chat with a many delightful people who love poetry and the Gaston Prentice House as much as I do.

On Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, professors, students, poetry prize winners and distant relatives of the late May H. Prentice gathered on the esplanade, not far from the corner of Lincoln and Main Street to celebrate the naming of the Gaston Prentice house. When talking to Alice Cone, the great grandniece of May Prentice, and an instructor of English at Kent State, she was able to briefly explain for those who were unaware, what the Gaston Prentice house/Wick Poetry Center is.

“Well, the Wick poetry Center was founded in 1984 by two brothers, Bob and Walter Wick, in memory of their sons Stan and Tom,” Cone said. “It started as a scholarship competition and has expanded first, under the leadership of Maggie Anderson, and now under the leadership of David Hassler. Maggie started ‘Reading Series,’ a contest for a first book of poems, which was in conjunction with university press, as was the chapbook contest for Ohio poets. They’ve now started doing more outreach, which David, in his directorship, has expanded even more. There are student interns, graduate students, just a lot of opportunities for students to do work both in meeting poets at readings and also doing outreach.”

David Hassler, who Cone mentioned, is the Bob and Walter Wick Executive Director at the Wick Poetry Center. I had the pleasure of grabbing a quote from Hassler during the reception of the event. When asked what it means to him to have so many people gathered at the ceremony, Hassler said he feels the event “really affirms and then re-affirms Paul Gaston’s idea of confluence. That we’ve brought all these people together who care about the Wick Poetry Center, and, in their own way, have contributed their time, their talent, their financial resources to add to this movement of what we do in the world— the muscle of poetry in our community locally and nationally.”  

Hassler went on to talk more about confluence in respect to the Wick Poetry Center. “The Ohio river feeds into the great Mississippi and brings more water to the Mississippi river than it does itself, this is that confluence. President Diacon is an important part of that confluence of the Wick Poetry Center.”

Todd Diacon, President of Kent State University was able to take the time to speak with me about the College of The Arts as well. As a student of the arts, I appreciate everything Kent State does for students such as myself. Students who can so often be forgotten.

When asked if he had anything to say to students of the arts, who may feel the sense of being overlooked, Todd Diacon says “One of the things that makes Kent State special is we have a really great and very big professional flight training program, and we have this amazing Wick Poetry Center. And that’s what really makes Kent a special place. We recognize that STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) fields are important. At the same time, we know our Music/Theater is important. We know our School of Fashion is Important. We know that Wick Poetry adds to the intellectual and cultural sense of placement at Kent State.”

I felt this was really important to hear, especially from the president of my university. I feel lucky to have found such a beautiful place in Kent State. You don’t often find such a large school that puts the work in and strives to make all majors feel accepted.

After talking with Hassler, he was kind enough to introduce me to the man of the hour, Paul Gaston. I asked Gaston what he thought about the ceremony and how it feels to have such a wonderful group of people come together for it.

“It is, above all, a wonderful opportunity to see many old friends and to have them come together out of a common interest, common enthusiasm and common values,” Gaston said. “That is reason enough to have an event like this.”

After mingling at the reception, I was able to sit down with Professor Cone on the front porch of the house to talk more about the event and the Wick Poetry Center. I asked Cone to elaborate what exactly was being celebrated for those who are still unsure.

“We’re celebrating the dedication of naming the house the Gaston Prentice House in honor of the legacy of May Prentice and the generosity of Paul and Eileen Gaston,” Cone said. “It’s also the 40^th anniversary this year of the Wick Poetry Center.”

Through their generosity and community involvement, the Gaston’s have been paying tribute to May Prentice’s legacy. For many years, they have generously funded the Wick Poetry Center’s programming needs. The front porch of the home, the Tyler Lee Gaston Poetry Collection, and the Tyler Lee Gaston Outreach Endowment Fund, established in honor of their son, are just a few of their contributions.

The Gaston Prentice House offers a few other events that students can attend. Cone was able to tell me about a few of them.

“There’s a ‘Wick Weekly,’ poetry workshop, that’s on Friday afternoons, and meets in the house,” Cone said. “Students can—among each other—workshop poems. On Sept. 27, there’s the creative writing open house, which is going to be a nice event to bring together all the opportunities for creative writing on campus and on regional campuses as well. And they can learn about my traveling and writing class in Florence at that time as well! We’ll be in the lower level of the house on Sept. 27. If you have more questions about that, talk to Katherine Wing, she’s organizing that. Occasionally there are readings and other events here. Mostly it’s the offices, and we have classes here—I should know!”

So should I! I started my Creative writing minor in my sophomore year at Kent with a creative writing class taught by Cone in the very house this article is about. Cone is a wonderful professor, and a driving force to the improvement of my writing. To be able to take yet another class with her this semester—grammar for editing—I count myself lucky and I’m excited to watch my writing grow even more under her guidance.

To close out our interview, I asked Cone what I had asked so many people that day: What does it mean to have so many people in attendance and celebrating an event such as this?

“Well, it means a lot to me!” Cone told me in response. “What means so much to me—why I was so nervous—is to have all of these family members that I haven’t seen in decades come from all over the country as well as my colleagues and my friends and my students!”

Cone is speaking in reference to the speech she gave during the Ceremony, which was beautiful. Cone finished by stating, “To have all of these groups together is a real confluence.”

The Gaston Prentice House and Wick Poetry Center have been such a refuge for me on campus when work piles up, or life gets to be too much. I love taking walks in the Maj Ragain Poetry Park, reading the beautiful broadside poems that fill the space, the bright flowers that seem to shine in the sunlight those first couple months of the fall semester. Nothing is more serene then taking a seat in the amphitheater to truly take it all in or write some poetry of my own. The attic of the house is the perfect spot to curl up with a good book, and the swings on the front and back porches offer the perfect spot to take a break and feel a cool summer breeze on your skin.

May Prentice—the first faculty member at Kent State University—has left behind an admirable legacy. A legacy that has allowed students such as you or me to take in all creative writing has to offer. To learn more about Prentice, you can visit https://www.kent.edu/magazine/may-h-prentice-0 or stop by the Gaston Prentice House! There is a beautiful set up courtesy of Professor Cone, which includes items from the home of May prentice, photos and a short biography of Prentice.

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• #Kent State University
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• Molly Acquard