Page 9 - Florida Sentinel 5-23-17

Local
Teen Poetry Show Celebrates 10-Year Anniversary
Ten Students Receive $1,000 From Tampa Police Black History Committee
Members of the 2017 Tampa Police Department’s Black History Committee shown from left to right are: Major Rocky Ratliff, Spokesperson Janelle McGregor, Officer Gig Brown, Crystel Sampson, Deirdre Joseph, Ida Walker, Chief Eric Ward, Lydia Pizarro, Zalavia Brown, and Captain Calvin Johnson.
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
Recently, the Tampa Police Chief Eric Ward and the de- partment’s Black History Com- mittee provided $10,000 in scholarships to deserving graduating seniors. The pre- sentations took place during their Annual Teen Excellence Awards Banquet.
This was the first year that the committee focused on rec- ognizing the accomplishments of graduating high school sen- iors.
Last year, students were in- vited to submit applications
for the scholarships. After careful consideration, the Committee selected the ten re- cipients.
Each student was pre- sented a scholarship award in the amount of $1,000 scholar- ship. The scholarships are given to the students to help them pursue their dreams of a higher education at a college or technical school. Funding for the scholarships was made possible through generous do- nations from business partners throughout the community.
Chief Ward said, “Invest- ing in the success of our young people goes hand-in-hand with
strengthening relationships and sustaining a safe city.”
The scholarship recipients are: Brianna Blake, Blake High School; Leah Jenkins, Freedom High School:, Ar- mand Chalk, Hillsborough High School: Lamine Di- agne, Freedom High School: Gabriella Badmus, Cam- bridge Christian School; Dim- itri Pun, Sickles High School: Stephanie Febus, Blake High School: Davis Dees, Steinbrenner High School; Janay Jefferson Steinbren- ner High School; and Susan- nah Watson, Sickles High School.
WALTER ‘WALLY B’ JENNINGS
BY GWEN HAYES Sentinel Editor
For the past 10 years, Spo- ken Word artist, Wally B, Walter Jennings has been hosting poetry shows for young people to showcase their talents.
“Heard ‘Em Say Youth Arts Collective,” Tampa’s only open-mic show established ex- clusively for teens and youth will be celebrating the 10-Year Anniversary with an evening of stirring performances and award presentations.
The show will take place on Friday, May 26th at 7:30 p. m. at The Inkwell Centre, 2905 N. 50th Street. Tickets are avail- able for this event.
All proceeds go towards helping local teens attend the 2017 Brave New Voices Inter- national Youth Poetry Festival in San Francisco, CA July 19th- 23rd.
Wally B says he will be taking 6 Tampa teens to San Francisco: Michael Blinya, Megan Kirkham, Jenesis Miller, Denzel Pierre, Jor- dan Theocharakis and Jer- emiah Woody.
“All of them are 19 (years 0ld) and under. Three of them just graduated from high school last year (Tampa Bay Tech and Bloomingdale), 2 are graduating this month (Durant and Hillsborough) and 1 is going into her senior year at Hillsborough,” he explained.
The festival registration, housing, meals and airfare come to $800-$1,000 per teen, he said.
“Heard ‘Em Say Youth Arts Collective” was estab- lished in May 2007 as an open- mic show to provide community’s youth with a healthy, social outlet and plat- form to express themselves
and promote growth in the areas of: self-esteem, written and oral communication, net- working, social tolerance, and cultural understanding through the art of spoken word poetry.
“I started the show at a place called the International Bazaar in Ybor City. They had a stage in the back of the store and it seemed like the perfect atmosphere to host an open mic for youth. As a Spoken Word artist who grew up in Tampa, I thought it was impor- tant to offer the young people in the city an artistic platform to express themselves.
“This was also during the time when the city was at- tempting to enforce a youth curfew. My concern was that so much emphasis was being placed on where teens SHOULDN'T be going, but I didn't hear about any viable options regarding where they COULD go. I thought Heard ‘Em Say could be one of those safe spaces,” he said.
The goal is to produce not only great artists, but great people.
“Heard ’Em Say's 10-Year Anniversary Show is a celebra- tion of all that we are...and all that we hope to become. We have been blessed and fortu- nate to accomplish some amazing things throughout the years.”
“Heard ‘Em Say Youth Arts Collective” was recently fea- tured on Bay News 9’s “Home- town Heroes” segment.
Please contact Walter “Wally B” Jennings at heardemsayyouth@gmail.com or visit www.heardemsay.org, our Facebook page: Heard ‘Em Say Teen Poetry or Instagram: @heardem_say for more in- formation or to learn more about this event!
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