Members of the Mundelein High School Poetry Slam Team took part with a number of other schools at the Young Blood Spoken Word and Pop-Up Art Show at the David Adler Music and Arts Center in Libertyville on March 3. Several members of the group earned honors for their work. Team members include Raegan Duym, Isabelle Jurasz, Meghan Mathys and Rose Rosell.

Mathys won first place with her poems, “Little Girl” and “Mary Moe.” “Little Girl” is a piece about innocence and the voices that try to knock girls down. “Mary Moe” is about imagination and the unlimited opportunities a young girl can have when she dreams big. Her poem ends listing the names of powerful women who have made a difference in the world, past and present.

Jurasz took second place with her poem, “An Apology to My Mother.” The piece focuses on her dual identity. She begins the piece ashamed of her Phillippine heritage and ends awakened and apologizing to her mother for trying to hide her culture.

“Her mother was in the audience and had never read the piece before,” said Meredith Teuber, advisor to the group along with Krysta Penuel. “When Isabelle ended the piece by looking directly at her mother and apologized to her mother in the language of her heritage, the entire audience was moved, many brought to tears.”

Duym kicked off the show by condemning society’s version of beauty and empowering people to change their definitions of beauty and see all humanity as beautiful. Duym’s imagery highlighted human behavior and groupthink.