RKYHS hosted its third Yeshiva Poetry Slam earlier this week. The school welcomed nearly 80 students from nine participating Yeshiva day schools from all over the tristate area. The Yeshiva Poetry Slam was started a nearly a decade ago by Aaron Roller and has grown exponentially since, in terms of both the number of schools involved and the number of students within each participating school.

The Yeshiva Poetry Slam is a creative outlet for students and a chance to meet other students with similar interests. Poetry slams are powerful because they bring people together who share a love for language and enjoy hearing each other’s works, mixed with the competitive spirit that accompanies any face-off. While there are winners and this is a competition, the more palpable feeling in the room is the camaraderie present between like-minded students who take pleasure in sharing their thoughts. It is a gentle, accepting environment where everyone’s poetry is applauded and appreciated.

To accommodate the large number of participants, students were first divided into smaller groups to read the two poems they wrote, one about “Villains” and the other about “The Unnoticed.” Then all the groups came together for the finalist round comprised of the best poets from each room. Sam Shersher, Elisheva Feldman and Benjy Stock, RKYHS students, were all finalists. The RKYHS students will be sharing their poems with the entire RKYHS at a later date and the student body looks forward to the program.