The Poetry of Heritage

The library at Heritage College-Ready Academy High School has a new and valued volume.  It is The Book of Poetry, the first edition of poems written entirely by Heritage students.  More than one hundred young people now can say they are published poets.

When ninth grade English teacher Vanessa Penaflor announced several months ago that the next unit of study would be poetry, she heard mixed reactions.  Some of her students groaned. Others had never read or written a poem. A few of the ninth graders were eager to begin. Over the next ten weeks, that diversity of experience vanished. “They studied all types of poetry from Shakespeare to Langston Hughes to Billy Collins,” explains Ms. Penaflor.

Students did more than study poetry; they began to write their own.  The creative writing was revealing. “Students who didn’t speak up much in class wrote eloquent work,” Ms. Penaflor says. “Some were very serious. One was so personal that it provided me with an opportunity to reach out and help that student with a problem that otherwise would have been a private struggle.”  All students wrote at least ten poems for class.  At the end of the unit, each was asked to submit the best one.  Those submissions became the first Book of Poetry.  

“It could become a best seller among the Heritage school community,” says Principal Harry “Doc” Ervin with a smile.  “Everyone is very proud of this work.  We are looking forward to the second in the series next year.”