Full of creativity and passion, with pencils and paper in hand and each carrying a unique story and invaluable lived experiences, over a dozen incoming and current Texas high school students filed into a conference room at UT Austin’s Sid Richardson Hall.
The group excitedly prepared to welcome José Olivarez, a renowned poet and speaker slated to conduct a poetry workshop as part of the Youth Voices Rising camp, which launched this summer and focuses on developing students’ personal and academic writing skills by learning to use art and storytelling as a means of expression. The week-long camp was hosted at The University of Texas and included sessions prepared by College of Education faculty. Attendees were nominated by program counselors at schools across Texas participating in Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP), a federally funded grant program that helps states and partners to provide college readiness services to middle and high school students at campuses with high poverty rates.
My goal for students during their weeklong visit at UT Austin was for them to know that their voices and stories matter,
said Tracey Flores, the founder, director and lead facilitator of Youth Voices Rising. There may be challenges in their lives, but there is also hope, joy, love and community. I hope they learn to draw on their many experiences as a strength to make their dreams and goals a reality and begin to envision themselves as college students.
Olivarez, a poet, educator and performer, whose work highlights his experiences growing up as a son of Mexican immigrants, is well known for his prose and his passion for helping people to unearth and share the power of their own stories.
I invited José Olivarez to facilitate a workshop for our Youth Voices Rising Community because his writing is honest, powerful and truthful,
Flores said. I truly believe that visits with authors, poets and storytellers can unleash the writer within us and inspire our youth to write and pursue other creative endeavors that can change their lives and the world.
Olivarez began writing as a teenager and found it life changing. He learned to be inquisitive, curious and look beyond the surface when examining news, art or even himself.
It means the world to me to now be in a position to pass on what I’ve learned,
Olivarez said. I don’t expect all of the students will become poets, but hopefully, what they learn stays with them and gives them tools to express themselves.
His mission through the workshop at Youth Voices Rising is to help students understand the power of sharing their stories, not only for themselves but for reaching others.
Though sometimes our experiences can feel lonely, there is always someone who is experiencing something similar,
Olivarez said. When we choose not to be silent about our lives, we are opening the door for another person to choose against silence. That’s powerful.
Olivarez’s hope is that regardless of what they pursue in the future, participating students will go back to high school with a deep understanding of the importance of stories they have to share.
I hope students take away the idea that they are powerful and worthy of art and beauty and joy,
Olivarez said.
Adia Villanueva, a rising sophomore at San Marcos High School, has always been drawn to poetry and writing in general as an outlet. She attended Youth Voices Rising at the recommendation of her guardians and hoped she would learn to enhance her creativity in her poetry.
The power of the pencil is a way of self-expression,
Villanueva said. If you take away that kind of form of self-expression, it can make us keep things locked in and we won’t know how to experience things properly. In the future we can go through our writing, and we can see where we came from and where we are now.
For Allyson Adams, a rising freshman at Jasper High school, her writing journey didn’t begin until she was nominated for Youth Voices Rising by her advanced English teacher. Despite not being in an advanced class, her admissions prompts helped her realize the long story she had to tell.
At the end of the day, everybody has feelings,
Adams said. It is easier to express them by talking or writing about them or even sitting in front of a camera. I have been through a lot at my age, and I would love to write about it to see if people have had similar experiences and might feel alone.
Meanwhile, Madison Drew, a rising sophomore at Lufkin High School, has been a part of GEAR UP since the seventh grade. However, it was not until one of her poems was flagged as “concerning” that she was nominated for the Youth Voices Rising camp. After explaining the poem to her teacher, the poem turned from concerning to moving, landing her a spot.
What I am hoping to take away from this is to be able to incorporate words and poems into my art like Frida Kahlo and other artists I admire,
Drew said. I want to advocate for people and, as one of my favorite writers would say, I want to be the voice for the voiceless.
For Drew, who initially gravitated toward art, writing did not become a part of her creative outlets until her mom and a family friend suggested that she combine them. Now, at Youth Voices Rising, she identified with Olivarez’s story of growing up in a small town with few resources, and the changes in Austin reminded her of the gentrification in her own community.
Utilizing both art and writing, she said she now feels inspired to preserve history, architecture and languages that resonate with her story. Additionally, she wants to advocate for people to pursue their interests and creativity regardless of their situation—a lesson she took away from camp.
I want the younger generation to see it is okay to be yourself,
Drew said. You can’t take it to heart when people make fun of you. You just have to push through, let the tears dry and let it make you stronger.
