English 3 classes participated in the poetry coffee house on Monday, which was the culmination of a unit they did on poetry. The students wrote their own poems and presented them in the format of a coffee shop poetry read.

The coffee house was set up by English 3 teachers: Leslie Story, Michelle Gerbasich, Jessica LaBello, and Abby Wyllie. Wyllie, who had previously done the poetry coffee house a few years ago before coming to Kingwood Park, brought the idea up and the teachers agreed that it would bring an exciting twist to the poetry unit. 

“We decided to bring it here to give kids an opportunity to do something different than just read poems by other authors,” Wyllie said. 

In the coffee house the students read the poems they had been working on in front of the class, allowing them to express themselves in different ways. 

“It’s been a really unique avenue for them to open up since it’s in an artistic form,” Wyllie said. 

The students had a variety of different poetry options to choose from – ranging from a 20-line poem to an acrostic poem, which consists of different words forming together to spell out one big word. 

About 300 kids participated in the poetry coffee house, with some of them taking a special interest in the whole process. 

“I enjoyed it a lot just because I feel like it’s deeper writing,” junior Zachary Ford said. 

In addition to the poetry being read, Culinary Arts classes baked treats for the coffee house to make the whole experience feel more authentic. 

The whole experience was a success and gave students a unique way to learn about poetry. 

“I think we’ll do it again next year,” Wyllie said. “It was a good change of pace.”