When ESL teacher Lois Hardaway won a “little dinky” poetry contest, it changed her whole life. And now she is hoping an event tomorrow night will do the same for other students.

The Poetry Slam is a competition where student poets can read their own poems on stage in front of a live audience. Any student from any of the three campuses can participate, and some college students will participate as well, according to Hardaway who organized the event.

The slam will be held in the auditorium on Tuesday from 6-8 p.m. 

Hardaway said the contest she won encouraged her to change her college major to English. She hopes the slam will make a difference for the students participating tomorrow.

“I think if students can start to see that if they have that little talent, that little thing in them, they will be so surprised at what they can do and how that can change their lives,” Hardaway said. “And that might change a direction for them. Maybe it will change one or two lives too.”

After watching a video of a Poetry Slam from a different school, Hardaway got the idea to bring it here.

“I just thought we can do that here,” Hardaway said. “It was a class that did it, so it wasn’t open to everyone, and I was like, ‘Let’s just take that and make that school-wide. Let’s make it big, and we can even take it to the public.’”

For the non-competitive poets, there will be an open mic where they can present their poems without a judges panel. Those who are competing will have judges Sally Squibb, Teresa Wells, Liana Massengale and Amy Fox. This is the time for students to show their talent.

“We have a lot talent here at the school,” Hardaway said. “A lot of the time, it’s shown in athletics. It’s shown in maybe science or math, but we have a lot of talent that’s not shown in writing and poetry and in the arts. I think the students will surprise themselves whenever they see that they can write.”