Vigil reflects grief, hope — and poetry
Shaker students open up with memories of Meghan Marohn, their teacher missing for weeks
Teachers and students gathered Friday in a space between grief and hope as they described their memories of missing teacher Meghan Marohn.
“It’s been hard,” said North Colonie Central School District Superintendent D. Joseph Corr. “There is this mix of hope and loss.”
But, he added, Marohn excelled in getting students to think beyond “either this or that.”
“She would appreciate this. There is this paradox of hope,” he said.
On Friday, students and teachers made a point of using the present tense at all times when describing Marohn, who has not been seen for almost two months after visiting a park near Lee, Massachusetts. But students described a deep sense of loss with their teacher no longer holding classes.
“The past few months have been moving in slow motion,” said student Kamillia Barrett, reading a
“
Somewhere between grief and hope … the uncertainty and the investigations and the unanswered questions and the pain that comes with Meghan not being here. We’re here to acknowledge that pain.”
Peter Naple, Meghan Marohn’s brother
message from fellow student Elizabeth Scheu.
Barrett added that Marohn “embodied” poetry.
In her class, “I started to find myself shifting more and more into a writer,” Barrett said. “How lucky we are to stand here today and say we had Ms. Marohn as a teacher.”
Student Faazil Syed read a poem he wrote in honor of Marohn, a poet who read poetry to her students and helped them fall in love with language.
In Syed’s poem, titled “Missing,” he said she had vanished as if a magician took her.
“Who would commit
such a crime?” he asked. “No one can give up … the missing can be found. The impossible is possible. Our hopes must be unstoppable.”
Another student offered a glimpse of a better future.
“Wherever you are, I hope you’re happy,” the anonymous student wrote in a poem read by Principal Jim Wager. “I hope you’re writing poetry … I hope you are happy and doing well.”
Adults are not so sure she’s doing well.
They described her as a dedicated, skilled teacher and said they hoped the vigil would keep her name and image circulating so that she could be found.
“She works hard to connect to students,” said science teacher Vicki
Abrusson. “She makes you feel special. I know Meghan’s always thinking of others.”
Her brother Peter Naple said not knowing what happened is the worst part.
“Somewhere between grief and hope … the uncertainty and the investigations and the unanswered questions and the pain that comes with Meghan not being here,” he said. “We’re here to acknowledge that pain.”
The Shaker High School teacher has been missing for seven weeks, shortly after an unclear situation at school that led her to consider a leave of absence.
She vanished after driving to Massachusetts, parking at the entrance of a short hiking trail at Longcope Park on March 25. Her keys and hiking boots
were found in her unlocked car, and law enforcement officials said her cellphone pinged to a thickly wooded residential area across the street.
Despite air and land searches, no evidence of her has been found.
She spent many years teaching at a school in New Jersey and moved here four years ago to be with her father.
While here, she started the Troy Poem Project, where she would produce poetry on request during gatherings by the river in Troy.
She also taught students how to express their thoughts and connect with people, Corr said.
“We want you to know you too are cherished,” he said. “You are our gentle soul, our poet.”