Whitfield 8th Graders Collaborate on Poetry Competition with Nashville School

Whitfield’s 8th Grade English students, under the guidance of Mr. Tom Herman, recently participated in an exciting poetry exchange and competition with middle school students from Nashville, Tennessee. The unique collaboration was born out of a chance meeting when Mr. Herman connected with a fellow middle school English teacher at the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE) conference in Nashville earlier this fall. Inspired by a shared passion for poetry, the two educators decided to create a joint project that would foster creativity and friendly competition across their classrooms.

The competition unfolded in two parts—a Thanksgiving-themed poetry contest and an upcoming Winter Holiday contest. For each round, students at both schools wrote and submitted original poems. The Nashville teacher collected the submissions from his students, and Mr. Herman’s class selected and ranked the best poems. In turn, Whitfield’s top student poems were shared with the Nashville school, where their students conducted a similar voting process.

The winners of the Thanksgiving poetry competition at Whitfield were Trey Robinson, Stefano Echevarria, and Beatrice Grissom, whose creative works stood out for their thoughtfulness, expression, and originality. Mr. Herman shared that the Nashville teacher is currently tallying votes to determine the winners of the Winter Holiday-themed competition.

This collaboration has provided Whitfield’s 8th graders with a unique opportunity to connect their love of writing with peers outside their school community, encouraging them to celebrate their voices through poetry. As Mr. Herman notes, “It’s been wonderful to see the students inspired by each other’s creativity, and this experience has underscored the power of poetry to build bridges and spark meaningful dialogue.”