Slam poet, Jovan Mays, has returned to Smoky Hill. Mays, age 30, is not only a Smoky Hill Graduate, but he is also the former Poet Laureate of Aurora, a national poetry slam champion, a TED speaker, and director of Your Writing Counts – a school based poetry program that operates throughout the greater Denver Metro area. The philosophy is to reach out to young people by helping raise consciousness, challenge creativity and develop consistency. All centered on artistic ownership and respect for the power of our voice and words. Mays will be giving presentations at Smoky March 6-14.

At these presentations, Mays shares his own story and has those who attend write “poems” of their own. In an interview with Aurora Magazine in Dec. 2016, Mays gave Smoky’s English teacher, Mr. Eric Alwin, credit for being a large part of finding ownership in his poetry identity.

“He [Alwin] was the man,” Mays said, “He was always willing to introduce me to cross cultural literature and expand my brain and expand my brain in a way that kept me hungry, but also kept me fed.”
If you have attended Mays’ presentations in the past or earlier this week and you are feeling inspired, consider attending or even performing at the third annual Slam Provisation held by Smoky Hill English Honor Society and Improv Troupe Friday, March 10 at 7:15 PM in the cafeteria. Admission for both students and adults is $5, students must have their ID. Performers get in for free. If you wish to perform, poets must send two original poems to [email protected] for pre-approval by March 9 by 3 PM. Each poet will have three minutes plus a 30 second grace period to read one poem. Points will be deducted from the poet’s total score if they go over the approved time. No props or musical instruments are allowed. There will be two rounds of competition. The top poets of round one will move on to round two. If you do not wish to perform, come and support all that do. Proceeds will benefit Smoky Hill, Expressions Magazine and the improv program.