Slam Poetry Slam Dunks A Victory
Aelyn Thompson
Staff Writer
Waverly Slam Poets won Louder Than A Bomb Slam Poetry meet Monday, March 24 in Omaha. Waverly’s nine poets received first place in Louder Than A Bomb for the Great Plains Region due to outstanding performances of their individual pieces and their group poem.
There was a practice meet March 18 where the poets worked with judges on separate needs, working with the teens to get the best poem they could before Louder Than A Bomb.
“Depending what you needed to do, whether you needed to work on performance, writing, or memorization, we would go into separate rooms and perform for different judges and schools,” freshman Slam Poetry member Hekela Harrison said.
Slam Poetry advisor Kelly Bielenberg was pleased with the Slam Poetry members’ performance in Omaha.
“Our girls did a really good job,” Bielenberg said. “They were nervous and channeled all their nervous energy into a great performance.”
There were four individual rounds, with four individual schools and sixteen students who performed.
“For example, the first school went, then the second, then Waverly, then the fourth. Then we started the second round,” Bielenberg explained. “It was kind of the same deal except Waverly went first the second round.”
Waverly was behind by .6 points after the third round until junior Riley Westerholt put the Vikes in the lead.
Being in the lead set the group up for an easy victory with their final performance.
“The last round was a group poem performed by four students,” Bielenberg said. “Our girls had a great performance and really secured us the lead.”
The next meet for Slam Poetry is April 1, at 7:30 in the UNO Ballroom, make sure to wish all the poets the best of luck in their future performances.
