Several Blue Jays were taken by Mrs. Goheen, JCHS Spanish teacher, to compete in the first ever Spanish Poetry Slam Contest on April 7th. Mrs. Goheen took 12 students from her Spanish 4 class to Wichita State University.

“It was really fascinating. They sent us poetry 2 weeks before and there were three rounds. With each progressive round students were cut,” Mrs. Goheen said.

The judges were experienced in judging the students in the right aspects to decide the best winner based on articulation and pronunciation. “They were either professors from Wichita State University or other teachers of Spanish,” Mrs. Goheen said.

This was the first year that the contest was offered so Mrs. Goheen only took students in her advanced Spanish class. Her students spent several weeks preparing for the competition.

“We studied the poetry in class, analyzed them, talked about what they meant, discussed the historical context. Then, if they wanted to they could go perform it for the judges,” Mrs. Goheen said.

Students who participated went through three rounds. The first round was with poems that were sent to them and had to memorized. Next round they performed 2 poems of their choosing. In the third round, they did the two original poems again in front of a whole new set of judges.

67 students participated across the state, 12 were selected to go to the final round and 6 of those students were from Junction City. Paloma Picazo, a sophomore, placed third overall.