D.C. Slam Champion to Highlight Bergan Poetry Festival
Clint Smith, students celebrate poetry and "spoken word" art Jan. 25-26
Clint Smith, the 2012 Graffiti DC Poetry Slam champion and a veteran of international individual and team “spoken word” competitions, will be the featured poet Friday, Jan. 25 at the Paul K. Bergan Poetry Festival, Foxcroft School’s English Department Chair Kathleen Boswell announced recently.
Smith, a New Orleans native who teaches at Parkdale High School in Riverdale Park, MD, will perform some of his original poetry, conduct a workshop and help judge the annual student poetry slam in Fox/Hound Auditorium Friday, beginning at 7 pm. The public is welcome to attend the festival, which continues Saturday, Jan. 26 with formal and informal readings by students and faculty. Please call 540-687-4511 for more information.
As a member of the Beltway Poetry Team, Smith represented DC at the 2012 National Poetry Slam. He also competed at the Individual World Poetry Slam championships in October and has been featured on TVOne’s premier poetry and music show, Verses & Flow. Smith, 24, graduated from Davidson College, where he majored in English and founded FreeWord, a slam poetry team that he led to a top ten finish at the 2010 College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational. To view a sample of his work on YouTube, click here.
After Davidson, Clint served as a cultural ambassador to Swaziland on behalf of the U.S. State Department, living in Soweto, South Africa. He worked to educate youth in the township on HIV/AIDS by engaging them in soccer and spoken word. Smith also conducted poetry workshops around the country that focused on HIV/AIDS prevention, cross-cultural understanding, and self-empowerment.
Smith has appeared at the International AIDS Conference, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Conference, the Teach For America Regional Institute, the African Leadership Academy, and the School for International Training, the Johannesburg House of Hunger, and the Maun International Poetry.
In addition to the Friday evening celebration of performance poetry, the Foxcroft festival will feature a variety of more formal readings Saturday. Student from each grade level who have advanced through two rounds of readings, judged first by their peers and then by a panel of faculty members, will compete for in a formal poetry-reading event with roots in the early days of the nearly-century-old school. After those winners have been crowned, students and faculty will share favorite poems, in English and in a number of other languages. They will also lead original works.
A Foxcroft tradition, the Poetry Festival has brought famed poets of all styles to the Foxcroft’s Middleburg, VA, campus over the years. In 2007, it was renamed in honor of longtime English teacher Paul K. Bergan upon his retirement.
This website uses cookies to ensure the best experience for visitors to our website.
By continuing to use this website, you consent to our use of these cookies.
See our Privacy Policy for additional information.
By continuing to use this website, you consent to our use of these cookies.
See our Privacy Policy for additional information.
An all-girls boarding and day school in Northern Virginia, Foxcroft prepares young women in grades 9-12 for success in college and in life. Our outstanding academic program offers challenging courses, including Advanced Placement classes and an innovative STEM program. Our premiere equestrian program is nationally recognized, and our athletic teams have won conference and state championships. Experience the best in girls' boarding schools: visit Foxcroft.
