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The crowd is quiet. The auditorium is cold and dark. All eyes are on one person, one shadow. Each person tells a story, which is hard to express.

The Sociology class at Junction City High School did their final projects on slam poetry. Slam poetry is meant to let the speaker express themselves through literary devices such as imagery. Mrs.Deweese, sociology teacher told us “It was one of the most challenging assignments to students and it always delivers.” “Moments like these remind me of why I became a teacher.” The students had to write a poem about how society has influenced their lives. Many people perceive others to be a certain way based on stereotypes and slam poetry is a way to break through this. It can get very emotional and it makes the person vulnerable.

We interviewed a couple of students after they performed their poem. Dante Williams who had an emotional performance wrote about how people perceive him to be someone he is not. There was not a dry eye in the audience. Williams stated “I didn’t plan on crying during my performance, it just happened.

Students struggle with many issues throughout high school such as not being skinny enough, not being the “perfect” person, the color of their skin and not being popular enough. When will enough be enough? This assignment made students realize that they are not alone. It only takes one person to speak out and make a difference.

“Don’t be ashamed of your story, it may inspire others.”