Claiming Space: Youth Voices at Toni Morrison Day

On February 20, 2026,  I stood beside my students at Monmouth University, watching them step fully into their identities as writers. As an English teacher at Asbury Park High School, writing is the catalyst of expression. Teaching writing has always opened doors of communication and community, allowing me to share the hearts of my students in the pages of their notebooks. In collaboration with Project Write Now (PWN), our Creative Writing class has shared a vision of the power of writing and how writing can transform lives. This is the third year we have attended Toni Morrison Day at Monmouth University with PWN. Every year, it is a magical experience as my students embrace Toni Morrison’s legacy, celebrate Black History Month, and evoke freedom as they share their writing. 

The day began with a workshop led by Piper Kendrix Williams, co-author of The Toni Morrison Book Club. I was so proud to witness my students engaged, taking notes, and asking insightful questions after her lecture. It is these authentic experiences that motivate our children to engage with the world and learn more. They asked insightful questions with a published scholar who understands literature as lived experience, and all of my students asked me for The Bluest Eye, Morrison’s book Williams spoke about in the workshop. This is the dream as an English teacher: to have students want to read and learn about important literature and to understand that literature is not distant or unreachable, but something real and relevant. 

After the workshop, we were gifted with a tour of the campus by a Monmouth student who was open and honest about his college experience. Three of my seniors are now interested in attending Monmouth University because of this tour. Experiential learning provides students with an opportunity to learn outside of school. We walked around campus, saw the hot spots, including the chapel in the Great Hall, and we ran around the indoor track at the sports facility. 

Now the writing part of the day was my personal highlight. Meredith Avakian, PWN’s director of community outreach and engagement and a published author, motivated my students to dig deeper into the spoken word. Writing has a way of bonding students, so when we write and share in class, we bond and develop courage like nothing else. When students share their work, they share themselves—their fears, their hopes, their truths. That vulnerability creates trust. It creates community. 

The Toni Morrison Day team invited two of my students to share original spoken word pieces before the Toni Morrison Poster and Creative Writing winners were announced, and I was amazed at their courage and grit as they performed poetry of the heart. When Sahar Kamel performed her poem “Divided” and when Talysha Tanis shared “Before the Children Learn to Be Afraid,” they were not just reading poems—they were claiming space. They were speaking for themselves and for others.

The open mic session was also powerful. Seeing Miliani Torres, Da-Xia Sully, and Herlancia Joseph perform alongside Monmouth University students and faculty confirmed my innate belief that writing transforms lives, writing levels the room, writing connects generations, and writing is life.  

I am incredibly proud of my students—not just for their talent, but for their bravery. They showed up as writers, as thinkers, and as young people willing to be seen and heard. I am so grateful to Stacey, Noel, and the Toni Morrison Day team for giving my students this opportunity and to PWN for our collaboration and our shared vision of the importance of expressive writing. 

On the bus ride back to school, all of us reflected on the power of the day. We reflected on writing. It confirmed my reason for being an educator—to change the world, one student at a time.