Community invited to ‘Spoken Word Ho’ike’ event

WAIMEA — Bravely and respectfully, about 20 Waimea Middle School (WMS) students will share their voice and stories with fellow students, families, teachers, staff and the community during a “Spoken Word Student Ho’ike” from 1-2 p.m. this Thursday at Mana Christian Ohana’s Kahilu Town Hall.

All Waimea residents are invited to attend at no charge. Doors will open at 12:50 p.m.

Students will present original poems they have created during week-long Language Arts and Reading Class workshops with guest instructor Myrlin Hepworth, a rising star in mainland slam poetry circles. This is the third year Hepworth has come to WMS to challenge and inspire students to find their voices — express their thoughts and share their stories — using slam poetry as the vehicle of expression.

Hepworth shares his own evolution with students, admitting to having struggled to find his place, then discovering spoken word poetry and how it helped him become stronger and more self-confident, and how he learned to use it to help other young adults to share their stories and become stronger too.

Hepworth travels the country helping young adults put in practice his three rules: 1) Be Brave! 2) Be Respectful! and 3) Your Voice Matters! His visits to WMS the past two years were so powerfully embraced by students and English language and reading teachers that he was invited back a third time to spend a full week with every one of school’s 250 students. Each student will present their poems in classes, and those who are willing to share their work will present at Thursday’s event.

Helping WMS underwrite this learning experience is Deviants From The Norm Fund.