Poetry Slam! performance of the week: Cesar Chavez Public Charter School -- Prep

Each Wednesday during the year, we will highlight one of the 41 performances from the 16th Annual DC SCORES Poetry Slam! that took place Dec. 4-5, 2013. The event is the largest youth poetry slam in the District and highlights the original poems of our 1,500 youth. To view any performance from the Poetry Slam!, visit our YouTube channel. You can also read recaps of the event on our blog: Westside; Eastside. 

Today we highlight Cesar Chavez Public Charter School -- Prep, which won third place for middle schools on the first night of the Poetry Slam! at Cardozo Education Campus. The middle school students, proudly wearing their red and black school shirts, showed how much the fall DC SCORES writing season influences students to open up about their lives.

One boy's poem was about his uncle with diabetes. A girl's solo poem was about hope and included the three lines: "Your hopes and dreams/ may lead the way/ into a world that's filled with passion/ and makes you want to stay."

The Eagles concluded their performance by standing in a long horizontal line and signing about getting older, becoming wiser, and proudly raising their flags — taking pride in their different upbringings.

Click on the embedded video player, and you'll be proud, too, of the students' courage on stage!