“You have a pre-paid call. You will not be charged for this call. This call is from Mommy and Daddy. It’s based out of federal prison. We give you the option to hang up in hopes that you will become another angry child that resists their parents for a mistake. But you won’t, so press five and continue pressing five for the next seven years.”

This poem, “I Got a Pre-Paid Call” was what Tyana “TT” Wills read at Spoken Word Poetry on Monday, February 25. Wills is a junior and student in the dual enrollment public speaking class that presented.

Wills was also one of the students who chose to write her own poem.

“The poem comes from a deep place,” Wills said. “I‘ve been through a lot, so the poem means a lot to me. Both of my parents went to prison when I was seven, and I lived that life.”

“Spoken word poetry is a type of public speaking that allows people to be creative and allows them to find their voice,” said Ms. Boubouheropoulos about the event. Ms. Boubouheropoulos, also called Ms. “Boubou” by students, is the language arts teacher who orchestrated the poetry reading. “It’s an opportunity for a lot of the kids to find that creativity within them.”

Boubouheropoulos also spoke of the value of allowing everyone, including students, to have their chance to speak.

“A large majority of those kids wrote their own poems.“TT” Wills wrote her poem, which is very powerful. The idea is that you give people the opportunity to have a voice.”

The next public speaking event is planned to take place in April.