Austin Oakes

Senior Katherine Young performing her poem in front of a large audience.

The Parkway West High School Poetry Slam was held on April 18 at 2:30 p.m. in the library.

There were 26 participants, with 16 of them coming from the original poetry category and 10 coming from the published poetry category.

“I was amazed at the quality of work that came from the students in both categories.  You know you’ve heard some great poetry when it’s hard to distinguish between the published and original poetry.  West High is truly lucky to have so many talented poets walking our halls,” librarian Brian Welch said.

Among the participants was senior Katherine Young, who won the original category with her poem about the teachers at the school.

“My biggest inspiration was simply my teachers. They’re such vivid characters and I’ve wanted a way to convey that but didn’t know how. The Poetry Slam was the perfect outlet. I was going for “poking fun, with love” and I hope I captured that. There’s a lot of love there,” Young said.

For first place, Young won two movie passes to Wherenberg theaters.

“I had an absolute blast, even without the prize. The positive response has been overwhelming and I keep having people, (both teachers and students), asking me for a copy of it. So I’ve decided to film a performance to put on my YouTube channel, just in case anyone missed it,” Young said.

Each participant was judged with a score of one through 10 by five judges.  The scores were then averaged, and a winner was chosen based off of said averages.  The judges included: MOSAICS Academy teacher Lou Jobst, Social Studies teacher Rita Wylie, ASC teacher Suzanne Reuman, sophomore Hope Cho and English teacher Erin Fluchel

“It takes courage and a strong sense of self to get up there in front of everyone and share a part of you.  Everyone who has the guts to do that walks away a winner,” Fluchel said.