The Paw Print

By Raina Suri, Staff Writer

On Sunday, March 15th, the Payton Bombic Sans slam poetry team participated in the finals of the Rooted & Radical Youth Poetry Competition. Rooted & Radical is the largest youth poetry festival in the country, a prestigious Chicago-based event featuring the best young poets in the city. The competition pulls from local schools to facilitate communication and collaboration surrounding the art of poetry and students’ personal experiences that they can draw inspiration from for their original poetry pieces.

After six weeks of intense bouts, or preliminary rounds, building up to the final event, Bombic Sans advanced to the finals at the historic Ramova Theater. “Leading up to finals,” said sophomore co-captain Yarely “Yaya” Lopez, “we started practicing twice a week after school and putting in those hours […], and I’m honestly so proud of the poets because they’ve developed so much over the course of these past few months.”

At the finals, Bombic Sans placed fourth overall, with junior Ivy Lefebvre winning first in the Individual Poet category and winning the Bernie Mac Award for Comedic Poetry. They can also be seen showcasing their talents in comedy during some of Payton’s Compasses.

Just like Ivy, members of the Bombic Sans team use poetry as a way to express themselves creatively. Many team members are also prolific in other clubs around the school.  “You can be a poet as a writer of any kind,” said Yaya, “and I think that being a poet is more than just performing because performing, to me, even these days is still scary. So just to be able to get up on that stage is an accomplishment and a win in its own right.”

After making co-captain at the beginning of this year, Yaya reflected on the work that was needed to go into leading the preparation process, saying “being able to create the space for so many other poets is honestly something [she’s] very proud of.”

Every year, the Bombic Sans team attends the Rooted & Radical competition, so stay tuned for future updates.

“Rooted and Radical 2026 is over, but we are already preparing for next year, and we also have a few things coming for the school, so I’m excited to introduce those ideas, though I can’t do it yet,” said Yaya.