On Thursday, March 5, students in Keeley Naughton’s Writing Workshop classes got the opportunity to see students perform at Columbia College in Chicago at the Louder Than a Bomb Slam Poetry competition.

Students took this opportunity to learn more about slam poetry and how to write and perform it since the classes are transitioning into their slam poetry unit.

“It’s a real life example of a unit we’re learning. It helps us kind of get an idea of what we’re supposed to do and the emotion we’re supposed to put into it. It was a big eye-opener,” said senior Kylie Page.

Throughout the day, students got to see a variety of poems from all different aspects. Each poem was different and interesting.

“Something that was interesting to me is that every poem was different. There were no two poems that were identical, and everyone said a poem had their own life experiences that they decided to express towards a large crowd,” said senior Maddy Wais.

“[Something that was interesting was] definitely the effort these kids put into it. This is their life, and they show that through the passion in their voices. It was shocking to me how invested they were in the poetry,” Page said.

The overall experience of going to Louder than a Bomb was helpful to students not only educationally, but also personally.

“I personally think going on the field trip was a good experience because it made me realize other people are going through the same struggles as me. It’s also really educationally helpful because it helped me see what I need to write about for my own poem,” said senior Aaliyah Cook-Taylor.

There were many poems that were performed, but there was one very memorable one that many students saw as eye-opening or personally connected with it.

“There was a poem a girl performed about her dad that had passed away. It was really eye-opening, and it just made you grateful for what you have. The emotion she put into it was really inspiring, and everyone in the room was touched by the poem. It really showed me how deep of places these kids dig from to perform,” Page said.

“The poem that inspired me was the girl who wrote about her dad that passed away because my dad also passed away, so that poem touched me and gave me chills while she was reading it because I know what it feels like to have a parent that passed away,” Wais said.