This year’s Poetry Slam, held on March 29^th, produced a surprise winner who had not appeared in the competition before.  As a matter of fact, this was his first public performance ever.  Senior Terron Allen won the event with his poem “Mother Nature Provided Me.”

            Terron said that he had done some writing of “rap or hip-hop lyrics” previously, but just for himself.  And although he had some aspirations of working in the entertainment industry, he had not really done any serious writing or performing.  He decided to enter the Slam at the last minute. He said only because “Marty (Kurtz, a senior) forced me to.”

            As he was wondering what he had gotten himself into, he talked to friend and neighbor, Caylin Curry, regarding what he should write about.  She became his inspiration by telling him to write about what he knew, namely, the importance of family.  Then she told him to “go deep.” So he ended up writing his winning poem about the perils of drug abuse, violence, missing fathers and a loving mother in just five days.

            Now that the poem had been written came the second challenge Terron had to face, his performance.  So he went to Mrs. Martha Croll, school librarian, and asked for help. They began rehearsing every day,  watching old recorded performances along the way.  Mrs. Croll said, “Terron is one of the only students I have coached who really took my advice and put it into practice.”  No small praise since Mrs. Croll has had extensive experience working with high school debate and public speaking teams before she came to CCC.

            An important element of Terron’s poem is family and his “family” circumstances had changed in a significant way as he was about to finish high school.  About a year ago Terron’s mom had to move to California for a new job.  Terron stayed behind in Cleveland to live with his grandmother.  But, fortunately, Terron’s mom was back in Cleveland for a visit on the exact date of the Poetry Slam and was able to be there to see and hear his winning performance.  When she first heard the poem she was surprised at “how deep it was” and said she had “only known (Terron) to laugh before now.”  Terron practiced the poem the night before the Slam with her.  And one of the last things he said to her was if she understood he was really talking about her.

            Terron was pleasantly surprised himself when he won the competition.  And he has already begun planning and practicing for the Poetry Slam Regional  competition at Playhouse Square on April 27^th.  He said that he hopes to follow in the footsteps of CCC graduate Kelton Latsen who won a college scholarship in this competition.

            Terron plans to attend Fullsail University in Windsor Park, Florida (near Orlando) next fall majoring in Music and Recording Arts.  His recent experiences have convinced him that he may want to pursue performance as a career.

            The following students were the other top three finishers: Second Place, Sophomore Marissa Foulkrod; and Third Place, Junior Marty Kurtz.