By Krystal Torres ’25
Isabela Hernandez ‘24 and Jessica Gerkins ‘24 organized DHS’s first-ever poetry slam on April 25, 2024, with the help of English teacher and senior advisor, Nicole Borges. The reason for this poetry slam was because Hernandez and Gerkins needed to do a school service project for the National Honor Society, so they teamed up and came up with the idea of a poetry slam. The money raised from the poetry slam went to the senior class.
Izabella Weitzler ‘24 was the host of this event. The judging panel consisted of three teachers and one student. The teachers were Jessica Yanes, Kevin Daly, and Kristin Parry, and the student was Nyasia Ferguson ‘25. In third place was John Paul Akter ‘24, second place was Shirley Diglio-Guerrette ‘27, and first place went to Edens Philogene ‘24, Xiare Henriquez-Lappots ‘24, and Jamir Person ‘24. Edens said that he, Xiare, and Jamir were all raised by single mothers and that they were all inspired by that experience. The name of their poem was “Single Mothers.” They said their poem was dedicated to all single mothers around the world. His favorite part of the poem was, “You’re strong. I don’t know how you do it because I know deep down your soul was going through it”.
The runner-up, Diglio-Guerrette, titled her poem “I Am Black, Too.” She says the reason for this is her adoptive parents are white and people are always judging her and assuming things about her because of that. She says that her parents being white has nothing to do with the way she acts or talks, so that was her inspiration for her poem. Her favorite line from her poem is, “That made me realize I don’t have white privilege like my parents do, instead I have a justice system that’s broken and my sisters and brothers dying every damn day because their blackness is too threatening for you.” John Paul Akter was the third-place winner. His poem was titled “Writing a poem with ADHD.” He said he was so frustrated because of how hard writing the poem was and how he struggled a lot with the task because of his ADHD. His favorite line was when he started using a lot of curse words because he felt like it was the climax of his poem and it was what drew everyone’s attention.
At the end of the event when all the winners were announced, they were asked how they felt or their thoughts. Philogene said, “ I want to thank my mom and all the other single moms,” Akter said, “I’m just surprised I didn’t get suspended,” and Diglio-Guerrette said, “ I’m happy I remembered.” One thing that stood out about Diglio-Guerette that set her apart from everyone else was how she memorized her entire poem and didn’t read off of a phone or piece of paper.
The first annual DHS poetry slam was a huge success: hopefully there will be more to come!
The Raider Press 