Juntos Somos: Poesía de Denny 2025
Welcome to Juntos Somos: Poesía de Denny, produced by Denny International Middle School students and Jack Straw Cultural Center during the winter and spring of 2025. This web page and our audio recordings and anthology of the students’ poems are the culmination of a project with Jack Straw artists and students from the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade Dual Language Spanish Immersion program at Denny International Middle School in Seattle, Washington. In this project, students in Liz Barry’s 8th grade Spanish Language Arts class worked with Jack Straw’s professional writer Raúl Sánchez; producer and poet Carlos Nieto; vocal coaches Iveliz Martel and Stephanie Román; and audio engineers Zeos Greene, Daniel Guenther, Erin Shellman, and Ayesha Ubayatilaka to write, perform, and record their own poetry. Students in the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade Spanish Language Arts classes wrote identity-based poetry that they also shared at the Denny Noche de Poesía and appears in the anthology. Jack Straw is honored to have worked with Denny students since 2012 to help them create and share their stories and poetry and build respect for each other’s experiences.
In addition to the main project, Denny Proyecto Saber students participated in sharing their experiences as Proyecto Saber students. Proyecto Saber is a Latino-focused Leadership class that began during the Chicano Movement in Seattle. It is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and the collective poem is a small gesture of appreciation and admiration of the many ways Proyecto Saber supports Latino youth in our community.
We published an anthology of all of the students’ poems, both in the original Spanish and translated to English.
Bienvenido a Juntos Somos: Poesía de Denny, producido por los estudiantes de la Escuela Secundaria Denny International y el Centro Cultural Jack Straw durante el invierno y la primavera de 2025. Esta página de internet y nuestras grabaciones y antología de los poemas de los estudiantes son la culminación de un proyecto con artistas de Jack Straw y estudiantes del programa de Inmersión en Español de 6º, 7º y 8º grado en la Escuela Secundaria Denny International en Seattle, Washington. En este proyecto, los estudiantes de la clase de Artes del Lenguaje en Español de 8º grado de Liz Barry trabajaron con el escritor profesional de Jack Straw, Raúl Sánchez; el productor y poeta Carlos Nieto; las entrenadoras vocales Iveliz Martel y Stephanie Román; y los ingenieros de audio Zeos Greene, Daniel Guenther, Erin Shellman y Ayesha Ubayatilaka para escribir, interpretar y grabar su propia poesía. Los estudiantes de las clases de Artes del Lenguaje en Español de sexto, séptimo y octavo grado escribieron poesía basada en la identidad que también compartieron en la Denny Noche de Poesía y se publicarán en la antología. Jack Straw se siente honrado de haber trabajado con los estudiantes de Denny desde 2012 para ayudarlos a crear y compartir sus historias y poesía y fomentar el respeto por las experiencias de los demás.
Además del proyecto principal, los estudiantes del programa de Denny que se llama Proyecto Saber participaron compartiendo sus experiencias como estudiantes en el programa. Proyecto Saber es una clase de liderazgo enfocada en latinos que comenzó durante el Movimiento Chicano en Seattle. Está celebrando su 50 aniversario y el poema colectivo es un pequeño gesto de agradecimiento y admiración por las muchas formas en que Proyecto Saber apoya a la juventud latina en nuestra comunidad.
Publicamos una antología de los poemas de los estudiantes, tanto en español original como traducidos al inglés.
Juntos Somos: Poesía de Denny was produced by Denny International Middle School students and Jack Straw Cultural Center with the generous support of the Washington State Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, ArtsFund, the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture and The Creative Advantage, Harvest Foundation, Seattle Public Schools International Education, and individual donors.
The Jack Straw artist team included writer Raúl Sánchez; producer and poet Carlos Nieto; vocal coaches Iveliz Martel and Stephanie Román; audio engineers Zeos Greene, Daniel Guenther, Erin Shellman, and Ayesha Ubayatilaka; photographer Sherwin Eng; designer Levi Fuller; and Executive Director Joan Rabinowitz. Denny students Mauricio Salvador Hernández and Dania Cruz Chávez created the cover art using ideas from their classmates. Special thanks to the students of Denny’s eighth grade Spanish immersion program and Denny staff. We especially want to thank our partner teacher Liz Barry, as well as these poets’ previous Dual Language teachers, Paty Gómez and Manuel Reséndiz Arroyo; Poetry Project Consultant Leticia Méndez Clausen; Instructional Assistants and Student Recording Support Experts Herman García, Octavio Fernández Ballesteros, Ceyla Santamaría, and Viridiana Maciel; Proyecto Saber teachers Albert Albanés and Hermán García; Administrative Secretary Mary Wilson; Principal Mary Ingraham; Fiscal Specialist Hillary Fleener; community advisor Miguel Guillen; and former Seattle Public Schools International Education Administrator Dr. Thad Williams, who helped make this project possible.
Artists
Raúl Sanchez
Raúl Sanchez is the former City of Redmond Poet Laureate 2019-2021. He teaches bilingual poetry. He runs the Poetry in the Park bi-weekly readings at Meadowbrook Pond…
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Iveliz Martel
Iveliz is an actor, teaching artist, and journalist from Chile. She holds an MFA in Acting from the University of Washington School of Drama and an MS in Science Journalism…
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Stephanie Roman
Stephanie Roman (they/them) is a Mexican American actor and teaching artist based out of Seattle. Their training began at PCPA – Pacific Conservatory Theatre in California, and they later moved…
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