Over the past three months, poetic, artistic, and lyric-loving students have been coming together on Tuesday evenings to share their work. This sharing has manifested in the presentation of moving stories, poems, songs, and ideas as students work toward the competitive Louder Than a Bomb youth poetry festival that kicks off on February 15th. Participating Clemente students will meet and write with high school students from all over the city when the festival commences. Although it is a competition, this is not what dominates the after-school meeting space. The interdisciplinary and cross-grade level collaboration promotes creative writing, critical thinking, and exploration and appreciation of personal talents.
The competition’s theme for 2014 is Freedom in Education, an incredibly important and relevant topic to Chicago’s youth, and to families and educators. Our involvement with Louder Than a Bomb, an event made possible by Young Chicago Authors, is enlightening and empowering for our participating students. The poets hope to connect the wider Clemente body to the festival this year as well.