Walking into the multipurpose room with Bruno Mars “24K Magic” blasting through the speakers, students were excited for the Get Lit performance.

“My SAT score says study more, I say there is an AP Chem test on Monday. There is not always time for both,” Get Lit player Mila Cuda said when reciting her poem about college applications.

On Nov. 18, all students listened to the nonprofit organization’s poets who shared their love for poetry. Its curriculum seeks to get students to study classic poetry and to then write a response poem that relates to them.

The program has been adopted by more than 100 schools, including Daniel Pearl Magnet High School (DPMHS). Players, the student poets who promote the Get Lit program, travel to different schools to help recruit participants for the Get Lit program in that school.  

“It was intense and so good,” senior Raquel Dubin said. “The college poem was definitely relatable.”

English teacher Ron Baer introduced the poetry program two years ago to get students interested in poetry. The Get Lit Club meets once a week to discuss poetry.

Each year a team is comprised of four students who practice and perform for the annual Get Lit Competition, held each spring.

This coming year DPMHS’s team decided to have their motto be “At home with the world.” This was inspired by journalist Daniel Pearl and how content he was with sharing his work. So the team is doing the same in being content with expressing their poetry to the world.

“I felt it was motivating and it makes you look at things differently,” senior Katie Lashley.

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Steven Guzman

English teacher and Get Lit club sponsor Ron Baer speaks to students about the audition process in order to join the team.