Around East County: Meet the Prodigies of Pittsburg High’s SLAM Club

There’s a artistic group of scholars at Pittsburg Excessive College (PHS) who’ve been stirring up consideration and successful slam poetry contests all through the Bay Space over the previous yr. Part of the PHS artistic writing division, the scholars are referred to as Prodigies and belong to the division’s Scholar Led Arts Motion (SLAM) Membership.

Usually, highschool poetry golf equipment are designed for college kids who take pleasure in writing, studying and learning poetry. These golf equipment are open to all college students. Conferences are casual and often encompass studying poems and biographies of poets and sharing authentic work.

The Prodigies’ SLAM Membership is all about sharing poetry and the love of writing but additionally takes this system a bit additional by including rap to the combination. For the membership’s president, PHS senior Marshawn Duchine (aka 510shawn), 17, the membership is a spot the place he might be artistic and concerned in a group.

“The most effective half about this glorious household of mine is the assist,” he stated concerning the membership’s members. “We by no means let one another fall and in that case, not for lengthy, and that’s what I really like concerning the group we’ve created.”

Duchine acquired concerned within the SLAM Membership in his sophomore yr, when the Prodigies’ then-president found that Duchine was a author.

“He noticed me on the steps on my own sooner or later and actually lifted me and introduced me to (the membership’s) room and advised me to ‘SPIT,’ ” Duchine stated. The poetry reference stands for Non secular Poetry Ignites Thought.

“I promise you that was essentially the most nerve-racking factor ever, however it paid off,” Duchine went on to say. “Take a look at me now. I introduced a gaggle of my pals who’re additionally artists, and we launched extra of the rap facet of poetry to the Prodigies.”

Duchine says that he first acquired concerned in artwork at age 4 or 5, when he began dancing and attempting to sing. He later started writing. He writes about the whole lot from “the place I’m from to the place I wanna go, plus some.”

Jojo Cisneros had an analogous introduction into the Prodigies. Her love for poetry began at a younger age when she was launched to it. At 7, she was printed in a kids’s poetry assortment. As a freshman at PHS, a faculty official really helpful her to the artistic writing class.

“I used to be hesitant to go at first, however my first time there felt proper,” Cisneros stated. After leaving PHS to attend Black Diamond Excessive College, she nonetheless remained within the PHS Prodigies program.

Now at 17 and in her junior yr of highschool, she writes poetry, rap music and sings.

“I’ve seen each components of this system firsthand,” she stated, explaining how she raps and writes music alongside poetry. “It’s a free house it doesn’t matter what sort of writing you need to provide. We think about it artwork so long as it’s true to you.”

Cisneros stated that she writes about her experiences or no matter she’s going by way of in the intervening time. She makes use of writing as an outlet and finds that it resonates with others. Cisneros gained third place on the Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam Finals this previous summer time. She stated she had carried out in entrance of crowds earlier than, however this was the one competitors she had ever competed in.

“I’m positive my experiences are much like most when it got here to the poetry competitors,” she stated. “I went into it nervous and a little bit intimidated, being that you may really feel the aggressive demeanor amongst the opposite poets, which is anticipated as a result of it’s a competitors. It simply drives me to go more durable.”

Cisneros encourages different PHS college students to become involved in this system.

“The most effective a part of the Prodigies program is the truth that it permits Pittsburg youth to have a artistic outlet with out the concern of being judged or regarded down upon,” she stated.

For extra data on becoming a member of the PHS Prodigies, electronic mail afinn@pittsburgusd.internet.

Roni Gehlke might be reached at oakleynow@comcast.internet.