The 23 participating students from Marsha McLeod’s class at Elwood’s Boyd Intermediate School held their annual Poetry Slam on Jan. 24 in the school’s auditorium. After choosing a poem they liked with at least six stanzas, each student spent several months of practice in memorizing their selected work, and created slideshows to accompany their poems. Student Makayla Bickoff served as the Poetry Slam’s emcee, with Betty Driscoll as the assistant emcee and Elizabeth Lyons and Victoria Risani handling technology for the event.

“We all have memorized, practiced and prepared our poems and slideshows,” Bickoff, who read “Sick” by Shel Silverstein. “We are learning amazing life lessons that most people learn in college, including how to speak in public, work as a group and manage schoolwork with life and extracurricular activities.”

“I would like to congratulate my classmates for all of their hard work and a job well done,” said Driscoll, who read “The Pig” by Roald Dahl. “Today is a day my classmates and I will remember forever.”

“To say that I am proud of our students is an understatement,” McLeod said. “The journey to today’s event was fraught with some anxiety, tears and disbelief in one’s own power. When one participates and puts one’s own fear to bed, the rationalization of one’s own ability to overcome is transformative.”

Date Added: 2/5/2025