“People should look forward to taking [the] Poetics of Hip-Hop class. Mr. [Dan] Barnes kind of lets us explore a bunch of rap music and [we] try to justify how it’s poetry. Other students like to bring in their own music. For example, we do daily dissections. So, he hands us a paper, and whatever student is presenting, they pick the song. I think it was ‘Yale’ by Ken Carson, and we kind of just did a deep dive into that. It’s just a really fun thing [we get to do]. We [have] learned how hip hop came to be, and it’s just really fun. We share our music experiences, and Mr. Barnes is definitely the best teacher for that. But there’s also different styles in rap. We have seen pop songs be tried to turn into rap, and it just doesn’t work. It’s not poetry like rap is. I think everyone should take this class, because it’s a really fun English class, and it’s one of the many options that seniors have here. It offers [an opportunity] to look at music in a new perspective, which has been constantly [downed upon] because of the lyrics and how vulgar they [can be], but it’s just poetry. It’s about the deeper meaning behind it.” – Evangeline Copeland, 12