On Wednesday, February 13, 2019, anxious but eager students gathered in the Midlothian High School Library to attend the Writer’s Guild Open Mic. Teens sat with their friends and ate pizza, attentively listening to students courageous enough to share their poetry at the podium. Junior Sam Webb was one such student, performing a multitude of original poems to the small crowd. As he walked back to his seat, appreciative audience members snapped their fingers in lieu of loud clapping in order to fit the mood.

Later in the open mic, after teens had finished presenting their prepared literary works, students began to approach the podium to try out “freestyle poetry,” an idea that Marisa Ruotolo offered. In pairs or alone, teens with prompts from the audience, created poetry off the tops of their heads. Hannah Jens participated in the freestyle poetry, alongside Nour Goulmamine, telling a story filled with zombies and deceased emperors.

Hannah Brown was delighted that she had come. “This was my first time coming to a Writer’s Guild meeting,” she explained, “and I really enjoyed it.” Even though Brown didn’t share her own work, instead opting to read an E.E Cummings poem, many students read their original pieces. “It was scary, performing [my] own work,” Editor-in-Chief Britney Price shared. “I felt like I was laying my heart out when I read my poem aloud.”