Pawtucket Students Use Poetry to ‘Slam’ Tobacco Use
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Front row left to right: Luke Higgins, Angelina Tavares, Alicia Carrasquillo, Agifatou Aidara, Karissa Nordin. Back row left to right: Paris Fisher, Miguel Flores, Mayor Donald Grebien, K???lani Gaul, Paula Vega, Jay Chatelle
PAWTUCKET ??? On May 25th, Pawtucket students ???slammed??? tobacco as part of World No Tobacco Day at the Blackstone Valley Visitor???s Center. Students from the City???s elementary schools submitted poetry encouraging a tobacco-free lifestyle, and were then selected to participate in the poetry slam.
Mayor Donald R. Grebien congratulated the school winners and welcomed all to the slam. He added, ???Our students are so talented. The annual poetry slam gives students an outlet for their creativity, passion, and advocacy of a tobacco free lifestyle. Thank you to our dedicated team for continuing this program every year.???????
Teresa Chopoorian, Chair of the Cancer Prevention Task Force, Diane Dufresne, Director of the Pawtucket Prevention Coalition, and members of the taskforce judged the poets. Local poets Jay Chatelle and Paris Fisher coached the school winners prior to the slam in public speaking and performance style.
The school winners competed for three top prizes, and will be recognized in a pre-game ceremony at the June 5th PawSox game at McCoy Stadium. A video of the winning entry will be shown on the stadium???s video board before the game. Prizes were donated by Navigant Credit Union, Mansion Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, and the PawSox. Bristol Community Savings Bank also extends the use of its McCoy suite to the school winners.
2017 Poetry Slam Participants:
Agifatou Aidara?????????????????????????????????????????? Agnes E. Little Elementary??School
John Barros ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Elizabeth Baldwin Elementary School
Miguel Flores?????????????????????????????????????????????????? Flora S.??Curtis Elementary School
Isabella Camacaro???????????????????????????????????? Curvin McCabe??Elementary School
Alicia Carrasquillo?????????????????????????????????? M. Virginia??Cunningham Elementary School
Karissa Nordin ???????????????????????????????????????????? Fallon Memorial Elementary School
Delmu Amador???????????????????? ???????????????????? Nathanael Greene Elementary School
Luke Higgins?????????????????????????????????????????????????? Potter Burns Elementary School
Angelina Tavares?????????????????????????????????????? Francis J.??Varieur Elementary
Jadrianny Baez-Estevez?????????????????? Henry J??Winters Elementary School