Poetry Slam XXXII hits the jackpot

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  • Mike Vacha places 3rd for his original poetry at the 32nd annual poetry slam held at the Max on Nov. 20th

  • Stephanie Hempel takes first prize for her authentic poetic writing at the 32nd annual poetry slam held at the Max on Nov. 20th

  • Sadie Miller wins 4th place for her initial poems at the 32nd annual poetry slam held at the Max on Nov. 20th

  • The legendary Slam platform that has witnessed every poetry slam since its beginning with over 100 signatures from past writers who have been lucky enough to stand out among the numerous participants throughout the years.

  • The winners of this year’s Poetry Slam claim their spot among the victors by signing their names to the historic slam platform.

  • The winners of this year’s Poetry Slam claim their spot among the victors by signing their names to the historic slam platform.

  • The winners of the Poetry Slam from left to right: Sadie Miller (3rd place), Stephanie Hempel (1st place), Mike Grove (4th place) and Mike Vacha (2nd place).

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Melissa Norris, Staff Writer

There was standing room only for Poetry Slam XXXII on Thursday Nov. 20. A lottery had to be used to determine the top 30 participants out of the 43 who signed up.

Those that had the opportunity to read had a large crowd of students, faculty and community members to support them and their poetry.

“It went splendidly. We had plenty of talented readers and the only thing I really regret is that we couldn’t hear all of the entrants,” Steele Giles, one of the coordinators for the event, said.

After the first round of 30 readers, the tabulators narrowed it down to the top eight for the second round.

Out of those eight, four with the highest scores were selected to compete in a final round for either first or second, third or fourth place.

The lucky winners were Stephanie Hempel in first place, Michael Vacha in second place, Sadie Miller in third place and Michael Grove in fourth place.

“Getting second this semester was the result of all my learning from past slams,” Vacha said. “It felt good to see the progress I made and to know it paid off.”

The event was hosted by the WSC Press.