Night of Poetry at PVHS

     Palos Verdes High School is home to many talented and special students of all genders and backgrounds. However, these students often don’t have a platform or a place where they can display their talents to the whole school. Literary Publication, a class whose purpose is to give a voice to the voiceless, wanted to plan an event that would give creative students that wanted to express themselves a microphone and a spotlight. After much consideration, the class agreed to hold a slam poetry night at PVHS. Slam poetry is a type of poetry intended to express a person’s personal struggles or story. PVHS has been home to slam poetry events before, but only as a mandatory assignment for a class. However, the students in Literary Publication wanted their slam poetry event to be available to the entire school. Therefore, instead of students being pressured to slam words into a piece of paper, they would have the free will to show their talents to their fellow Sea Kings. With hours of preparation and guidance of Ms. Pavelka, the advisor of Literary Publication, slam poetry night became a reality on November 29, 2016. There were about 200 Sea Kings in attendance to support the 18 brave students reciting their poems. By the time the event ended, the night’s air was heavy with laughter, love, heartbreak, depression, and hope.

     After the night was over, junior Marissa Hong stated, “Up until this year, I was never really familiar with what slam poetry really was and definitely underestimated the power and extremity of it. I think that the Slam poetry night was different from anything our school has ever done in the past because it was just so real and intimate.”

     Congratulations to Literary Publication for a successful night of poetry.