Urban Science Academy Clinches State Youth Poetry Championship

WEST ROXBURY, MA - What's louder than a bomb?

A group of teen poets from Urban Science Academy.

The team from the West Roxbury school took first prize in a statewide youth poetry competition for their choreographed protest to Mayor Marty Walsh's budget cuts to Boston public schools.

After battling in four rounds that brought together 300 youth poets from 40 communities across the state, the teens took home the crown Friday in MassLEAP's Louder Than a Bomb Massachusetts Youth Poetry Slam Finals.

"I didn't have the mindset of winning," Hibak Hussein, a senior at Urban Science Academy, said in a press release. "It was just that we all had a message that we wanted to put out there."

The month-long festival originated in Chicago in 2001 and has since spread across the country. Teens perform original works of poetry in each round and judges score the pieces on a scale from one to ten.

“Where else do we have a chance to hear the pulse of what is important to our young people? LTAB provides an opportunity for their voices to be heard and, perhaps more importantly, for us to listen,” Amanda Torres, MassLEAP co-founder and Artistic Director, said in the release.

KIPP Academy Lynn Charter School came in second place and FreeVerse! in Lowell took home third in this year's competition.

The festival also included a first-ever individual finals round on Friday, April 29th, where the top ten scoring poets competed for spots on the team representing Massachusetts at the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam and Festival in Washington, D.C. this summer.

The winning poets were Agnes Ugoji, of Roxbury, the 2016 state individual champion; Chinma Okananwa, of Peabody; Temitope Sholola, of Lynn; Kofi Dadzie, of Westborough; and Michelle Garcia, of Lynn. Sholola and Garcia were also members of the KIPP Academy Lynn team.

MassLEAP is a Boston-based group of poets and educators that coordinates artist residencies, professional development opportunities and events to build relationships in communities throughout Massachusetts.

Louder Than a Bomb was funded in part by a grant from the Boston Cultural Council, a local agency, and supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

Photo courtesy of Barry Silver via Flickr