High school is about expressing yourself, learning what you really want in life and figuring out how to cope with the stress of your teenage years. In poetry plus period you will hear people read beautiful poems about their innermost wants and anxieties in an attempt to understand and tackle these big issues associated with growing up. But you will also hear poems about how much people hate the flu and love Capri Sun.When you walk into poetry plus you are walking into a room where you can both express yourself and be goofy.

Poetry plus is ran by Olivia Galyon, Oscar Rodriguez, Dana Gustafson and Selaam Dollisso who all claim that they try to create an inclusive and stress free environment. “We’re inclusive and we allow all people to share their work or not share their work,” said leader Oscar Rodriguez.

Mrs. Engelkes (the teacher sponsor of the club) started Poetry Plus at the beginning of last year because she wanted to create an outlet for people who enjoy reading and writing poetry at Ames High. She said that she always wanted the club to be more about the enjoyment and search for meaning of poems rather than looking into the technical side of poetry. “Not everyone who comes here wants to go into the technicalities of poetry. So we want to just experience poetry and make it accessible to anyone who is interested,” said leader Dana Gustafson.

Every meeting begins with reading a poem and analysis followed by writing time and then a time for sharing your poetry. Poems are selected by club members on a rough rotation and sometimes correlate with certain themes or events going on in the world. “We got to know each other on a deeper level, sharing your poetry is like sharing your heart,” said Engelkes when asked about how the club has evolved. While the structure of the meetings has stayed roughly the same it is quite apparent that because of their time together everyone in the club knows each other on a deeper level.

Despite Plus Periods untimely death Poetry Plus is determined to live on. They are working on finding a time to meet after school and will surely begin Plus Period meetings again next year.