Tackling more than football
While gaining comfort with his original piece, Birl reads his poetry aloud to the team. He will soon have his poem memorized and advance to perfecting his delivery and slamming the poem. After school, Birl usually spends his time training for football, but this year he is carving out time to dedicate to the Poetry Slam Team.
The WHHS Poetry Team has been successful since its introduction in 2014. Slam poetry is known not only as an artistic and creative endeavor, but also a passionate and competitive one.
The WHHS team has consistently placed first or second in team and individual competitions.
One unique quality about the poetry team is the diversity of its members. Over time, the team has had a wide range of student profiles, including SENIOR Isaiah Birl a new addition to the team this school year. Birl is also a division one football commit to the United States Military Academy Westpoint.
After receiving 14 offers from division one and division two football programs, Birl decided on taking his talents as a safety at Westpoint.
Along with football, Birl has many hidden talents and passions that he expresses when he is not on the field or in his normal school day courses. Even though he has his future endeavors planned, he still continues to reach outside of his comfort zone and explore new ventures.
“I have been interested in writing since sixth grade, and then last year I took Creative Writing with Mr. Taylor and he was very influential for me. We wrote poetry in that class which was a door opener for me,” Birl said.
Birl shared that he has had opportunities to submit his creative writing pieces to competitions, which intrigued him, but he was hesitant to do so.
Kyle Scudder, an English teacher, has Birl in two classes this school year, Time to Speak and AP Research. Scudder expressed seeing a sense of creativity and dedication in Birl as a student and encouraged him to audition for the Poetry Slam team.
It was Scudder who showed Birl a video of De’Ariss Hope, ‘19, at the ‘Louder Than A Bomb’ poetry slam competition during class. Birl gained inspiration from Hope’s talent and decided to audition for the team.
In many ways, Birl’s interests resemble the alumnus poet, De’Ariss Hope, ‘D Hope’. Hope was also a star football player during his time at WHHS, and joined the slam team his SENIOR year.
“Mr. Scudder mentioned that I should join the team and after I told him about my interest in writing, he showed me a clip of D Hope’s performance the next day. I was thinking, ‘if he could do it, so can I,’” Birl said.
Birl frequently looks for ways to achieve personal growth and he continues to push the boundaries that surround him.
Football and creative writing are two different entities for him. He has different outlets to express himself, where he strives to make an impact on those in his communities.
Birl’s current piece in Poetry Slam touches on depression and expectations of athletes. He plans to promote self-love and prioritizing mental health.
Birl plans on using his voice to get a message out that reflects his own experiences along with those close to him. By being dedicated to football his entire life, Birl has been able to experience the positives and negatives that result from the sport.
Birl will be someone to watch and admire in all of his endeavors, on the football field and now center stage.
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