Highland Springs High School juniors Malai Keys and Leah Berryman had a lot to say, but they didn’t know the best way to say it. By teaming together, the Springer duo conquered their nerves and the stage at the fourth annual HCPS Black History Month Poetry Slam at the Henrico Theatre Wednesday.
“When I went up there, I just really thought about the people that this could be empowering and inspiring to do their own thing — get up there and talk about what they believe in,” Malai said.
In a night that featured a variety of powerful student voices and perspectives, Malai and Leah earned top honors at the divisionwide event, which is hosted by the HCPS Office of Empowerment, Development and Opportunity.
The theme of the poetry slam was “The Future is Watching Us,” and using that theme as a springboard, student poets from across Henrico County delivered their perspectives about their ambitions, their generation, their identities and the adversities they face in their own world — or the adversities the entire world is facing. Along with the overall honor, several students were recognized for individual facets of their performances, such as the rhythm of their delivery and the impact of their words.
Malai wrote the piece that she performed with Leah, which described the unseen struggles of being a young woman and her desire for a societal shift in the way people treat women and each other.
Malai and Leah followed Varina High School sophomore Wesley Hassmer, who delivered a powerful performance of his poem, “Revolution.”
In the middle school portion, Short Pump Middle School was represented for a second straight year by eighth grader Mahee Jain, while Fairfield Middle School brought three performers — specifically, triplets Ke’Niyah, Ke’Shawn and Ke’Vontae Smith, who all performed individually.
“They were so good. The whole time I was just snapping, snapping,” Malai said of the other poets. “How they articulated, the things they talked about — I was, like, I didn’t even think of that when I was writing mine. I thought, ‘Dang, I could’ve used that!’”
Added Leah: “This was also most of their first times (performing on stage), and they were just confident. They went up there, said what they had to say, and put it all out there on the floor. It was so good.”
The evening also featured the Highland Springs High School gospel choir, the Precision Step Team, a solo performance by Highland Springs’ Twania Jones and a Black History Month video submission from Baker Elementary School.
Leading up to the event, the Empowerment, Development and Opportunity team hosted workshops to help the poets work on their performances, and Leah credited student voice coordinator Tiffany Dabney for encouraging her and Malai to sign up and put themselves out there.
“She really wanted to push us and see what we could do and that we could make mistakes, so she was a big contributor,” Leah said.
The pair agreed that the poetry slam served as a great opportunity and platform for young writers and poets like themselves.
“Getting pushed and getting that encouragement that we can go up there and we can speak, and we can actually talk about what we believe in,” Malai said. “It really encouraged us, and I think it will encourage people to do the exact same thing.”