Poetry Night review

Students from schools across Miami gathered in the Convocation Center for a couple of hours of entertainment and artistry last Tuesday as the Upper School celebrated its Poetry Night, hosted by the National English Honor Society. 

This night celebrated creativity with delicious food and dessert provided by Walls Old Fashioned Ice Cream. Poetry Night featured a variety of activities, including singing and music, making blackout poetry, and playing different types of games with poems. 

One fun activity was a Taylor Swift vs. Shakespeare game on the stage, where participants had to guess whether a given line was from a Taylor Swift song or a Shakespeare play.

The night was organized into different stands that guests could walk up to and engage with. One stand had a blackout poetry activity, where participants could pull out pages of books and black out certain words to create a new poem. 

Another stand was led by Addison Griñan ‘24, the president and founder of the Upper School’s Book Club, and featured a collection of wrapped books with summaries of the plots on the cover. These books were given out with the intention that the reader donate them after reading the book. 

Throughout the night, there were also plenty of poetry readings, music, and singing. Some performances included guitar or piano accompaniments, including those of Claire Curran ‘24, Sofia Lee ‘24, Lyla Rufeh ‘26 and Elena Costa ‘26. 

One of our very own students, Aitana Bailon ‘26, performed an original song from her recent album, Innocent. Other students performed original poetry, including Alexandra Azan ‘23 and Mia Gonzalez Del Valle ‘23. The combination of music and poetry created a wonderful atmosphere of enjoyment and inspiration. 

Overall, Poetry Night was a huge success with plenty of delicious food, ice cream, and fun activities to keep everyone entertained and inspired.