Two Parkview students and one student from Hall High took the top three spots and bragging rights for a year at the 11th annual Poets with Passion Poetry Slam sponsored by JA Fair High School. Parkview senior Kristen Smith took first place and a prize of $350, sophomore Kagan Fletcher-Piazza took second place and a prize of $200, and Morgan Scribner, of Hall High School, took third place and the prize of $100. For the competition, students had to write three original poems, memorize them, and perform their pieces in three separate elimination rounds before a live audience.
Kevin Parker, former JA Fair student and the winner of the 2007 district slam was the guest speaker and the sacrificial poet opening the show. Parker has finished college and is a rising star in the fashion industry. His fashion designs are currently receiving national attention in many major magazines. Parker talked to the audience about how the Poetry Slam gave him confidence to pursue his dreams. Judges for the slam were Amoja “Moman” Sumler a professional spoken word artists from “Poets in the Streets;” Beverly Thrasher, literacy coach at Metropolitan Career Technical Center and Accelerated Learning Center and Carol Carter, secondary literacy and lead teacher at the Instructional Resource Center for the district.
Competing students made it to the district rounds through smaller competitions at their respective schools. The top five students from each school were sent to the district wide competition at JA Fair High School. The eighteen students who participated were: Vonda Thornton, Carl Napolitano, Park Lanford, Roy Phillips, Donald Price, Wesley Williams, Courtney Green, Michael Terry, Tristan Bethea, Kagan Fletcher-Piazza, Jonathan Leath, Rhett Smith, Kristen Smith, Camisha Wicks, Morgan Scribner, Yasmine Cranford, Destiny Esaw, and Asia Suggs.
Students in round three were Kristen Smith, Carl Napolitano, Kagan Fletcher-Piazza, Morgan Scribner, and Wesley Williams. Each had to perform a final, original poem that they had written and memorized. Competition in the final round was extremely tough, and all three students who placed in the competiton gave rousing performances on complicated and meaningful pieces that brought members of the audience to their feet with a rousing round of applause.
Proceeds from the event will benefit the LaPara Nicole Washington Memorial Fund for Literacy, created in honor of LaPara Washington, co founder of the Poets with Passion Poetry Slam and Literacy Coach of JA Fair High School until her death in the summer of 2011. The Passion Poetry Slam’s monetary awards are funded entirely through donations from the community. If you would like to donate to this outstanding cause, please call sponsor Nicole Smith at 447-1700.