It was Grace Sealy’s first poetry slam.

The sixth-grader, who loves writing poetry, was excited for the experience.

“I wrote my poems a month ago and I thought they would go over well,” she said after her school’s literacy night where she presented them. “They were topics I could get into.”

One poem was about loneliness and the second one was “a yoga piece. Something to calm your nerves.”

Grace said the ideas “just come to me.”

The idea of participating in Summit Academy’s poetry slam excited and scared her.

“At first, it was nerve-racking because I thought it would be in the auditorium, but instead, it was just a classroom that didn’t hold as many people, so it was fun. I liked presenting my work without having to go extremely public. I hoped for some opinions to help me improve; I eventually want to publish them in a book of poems,” she said.

Summit Academy’s first poetry slam was part of the school’s literacy night, which has been held for about 10 years, according to Principal Lindy Hatch.

“We had a whole bunch of poems there so anyone that walked in the room could come in and read a poem; we had a little the music, a beat behind it,” she said. “Some who came were prepared and others read from the poems we had there.”

SPO president Ciara Jackson said the slam was designed to welcome anyone to participate and specifically, attract junior high kids.

“Our literacy night is usually mostly the elementary kids who come so it was really cool to see some of our junior high kids participate,” she said. “It wasn’t designed as a traditional slam; we didn’t necessarily want judging, more we wanted students to get excited about poetry. So not only did they have the opportunity to be create and write poetry, but they could also familiarize themselves with poetry already published and perform it. That skill is another part of literacy.”

Participants engaged in several different activities around the theme, “Camp Read a Lot.”

“The entire month was about getting kids excited and wanting to read more. Our approach for literacy night was to do fun things so you remember that reading should be super fun, not just because you’re supposed to be doing it,” Jackson said, adding that many students enjoyed making s’mores outside after they rotated through the stations.

Fifth-grader Lucas Bradshaw checked out several activities. He played literacy board games and cards, found some printed forest animals in a scavenger hunt, painted an owl with sponge paints, took his picture holding props under the night sky, read books and met author, A.M. Luzzader.

“I got to talk to her about her cool-looking books she had set up,” he said. “She recommended some, and I bought one about scary stories. I’m reading it right now.”

Jackson reached out to Luzzader inviting her to come.

“I stumbled across her Facebook group a couple summers ago. She’s a Utah local self-publishing author. She writes for a wide range for kids and feels it’s important for kids to have books in their hands. So she sends physical copies of her books out to readers as she’s releasing them in an exchange for online reviews. My kids have previewed her books and done a handful of reviews,” she said. “I didn’t know where in Utah she lived, but I just reached out because I love opportunities for students to learn what it’s like to be an author and the process. She answered a lot of the kids’ questions and autographed books for them.”

Luzzader said Summit’s literacy night reminded her of events she attended when she was young, and it was inspiring to see so many kids excited about books and reading.

“As a children’s author, I love visiting schools and speaking about writing and reading,” she said. “Events like this are important because the only way for us as a society to continue to be literate is to talk about literacy, encourage it, and celebrate it. The thing I love most about school visits is connecting in person with young readers. Most kids who will read my books will probably get them from their parents, who will probably order them online, from my website or from Amazon. I’ll never have the opportunity to meet or talk with most of those kids, and that’s too bad. However, the first student I met at Summit Academy excitedly rushed over and told me she had already read a couple of my books. This gave me a chance to hear what she had to say about the stories. That kind of personal interaction is really thrilling for me.”

One story she shared with Summit students was about her story, “The Thing About Static Cling,” which was based on her true experience in junior high and published in a “Chicken Soup for the Soul” anthology.

“While giving a presentation to my class, I discovered that a pair of underwear had hitched a ride to school with me, clinging to my clothes via static electricity. I later wrote a humorous story about this, though I can assure you that I was not laughing that day at school,” Luzzader said. “I explained to the Summit Academy students that writing about this humiliating event took most of the sting out of it for me. However, I told them, writing down our experiences can also help others cope with similar situations. That’s one part of the magic of literacy; it brings people together.”

Hatch said that, in part, was why literacy night is held.

“All types of reading are important, but reading for enjoyment can enrich our lives by having that escape to experience things we haven’t yet experienced. Books help you learn empathy. They help you to understand situations; they enrich your life,” she said. “We promote the joy of reading to our students so they will have a lifelong love of reading.”

Hatch, who often will be found reading three books at a time withs another 15 in her queue, was one of the readers who read picture books to students. She was joined by other readers, Assistant Principal Kelsey Harris, first grade teacher Stephanie Burnside and fifth-grade teacher Mike Scoville.

“I enjoy reading; it enriches my life, but I miss reading to students as much as I did when I was a first-grade teacher,” she said.

In another room, families could just curl up and read.

“It was just really cute to see parents reading to their kids; that’s what we wanted to promote. We had siblings reading to their siblings, too,” Hatch said about approximately 85 students who came with their families to literacy night.

Some students brought in books from the book exchange that had everything from young adult fiction that to picture books and early readers. 

“A lot of them just sat down, hung out and read,” Jackson said. “I have always loved stories. I’m an English major so for me, the most important part about being literate is having that strong foundation. If you’re able to read, you can learn anything else. Literacy is the key to being able to unlock anything in life.”