Fourth Annual Spooky Slam Highlights Student Poetry

By KATE PIERCE
NEWS EDITOR

Despite the cold and snowy weather putting some students in the mood for the holiday season already, the English Club hosted a Spooky Poetry Slam to celebrate Halloween.

President of the English Club Christina Romeo welcomed a small crowd into the lounge area of the Neil Hellman Library to kick off the fourth annual event, which ran from 7:30 to nine p.m.

“It’s much more personal here,” said Romeo of the library. “English club is like a community, and we wanted to bring that community feeling here.”

Signups for the poetry slam were open to all students regardless of major, with eight students ultimately performing at the event. There was also a costume contest that was held after the slam winners were announced.

Judges from the English club included Nicholas Feeley, Shanell Hanna, Christiane Lee, Britteny Domagal, and Chantelle DeRose. The judges gave each poetry presentation a rating on a scale of one to ten, with cumulative scores being used to decide the winner at the end of the event.

First place went to Alquan Higgs, second place to Breanne Colon, and third place to Hannah Lee.

Higgs received a score of ten from all five judges for all three rounds. He said he has been writing poetry for about four years, and that this is his third experience performing at a poetry slam.

“I would encourage others to perform in poetry slams because it is a way to express yourself and lets your classmates learn more about you, in a different environment other than the classroom,” said Higgs. “It’s also a rewarding experience to share original work with others and hearing their feedback.”

Higgs performed three original poems, entitled “What I Live In,” “Two Sided Love Story,” and “Love.”

“I found it in a place I thought was dead./Then I heard a voice say, ‘Son pick up your head,you’re not dead’/I found hope,” said Higgs, as the last lines of the poem “What I Live In.”

The winner of the costume contest was Amelia Schramm for her portrayal of the character Holtzmann From “Ghostbusters.”

Hanna, one of the judges and Vice President of the club, said that she was glad for the great turn out for the event, and that the performers made it hard to judge. She also said that she would encourage students to partake in opportunities like poetry slams because it can help bolster confidence for presentations and performances required for classes.

“People have this perception of poetry,” said Hanna. “But it can be anything you want it to be.”

Colon, treasurer of English club, said that she turns to poetry as an outlet when she’s emotional.

“When something’s heavy on my heart – I get it out on paper,” she said.

The English Club is planning on hosting another poetry slam in the spring, and next month they will be holding their second annual novel writing series in which all participants come together to collectively write a novel in a month.

For more information on the English Club, contact Christina Romeo at romeoc464@strose.edu, or visit their Facebook page.