UH College of Education Student Shares His Gift of Poetry

Darron Cambra, student in the Institute for Teacher Education's (ITE) secondary program and 1998 graduate of the University Laboratory School, returned to the Laboratory School this January as a ninth grade English teacher. Cambra says the curriculum is being refocused around poetry. "Spoken word as an art form covers the language art's holy trinity of reading, writing and oral communication," he added. "Using spoken word from current and active poets also helps spark interest with the students because there is a direct relevance to their own lives."
 
A substitute teacher for the past two years, Cambra's impact is evident. "I have seen the direct results of his work with our students," said Bill Teter, Laboratory School English Department Section Head. "He has turned a couple of them into poets. 'Two of Teter's seniors represented Hawai'i's Brave New Voices in 2006 and 2007.
 
Cambra says he started writing poetry "to elude daily minimum word limits in high school English class." He studied creative writing at Western Washington University and, after graduating, moved back to his home town of Honolulu. "Darron is a gifted slam poetry performer who has brought guest poets into our COE classrooms and who shares his own poetic gifts in class" said Jeffrey Moniz, ITE assistant professor.
 
Impressed by Hawaii's growing surge of art and poetry, including the country's largest registered slam, Cambra has been a YouthSpeaksHawai'i mentor for three years. YouthSpeaksHawai'i is a non-profit organization that brings poetry to teenagers through writing and performance workshops. Cambra is currently the coordinator for the organization's weekly Wednesday writing workshop and helps facilitate their outreach programs.
 
Cambra has become a stand-out figure in the Hawaii poetry community. At this year's Girl Fest, Cambra facilitated a men's writing workshop and hosted "Bands against Violence" as well as the Closing Night Open Mic. Girl Fest's mission is to change peer culture in order to prevent increasing violence against women and girls through education, entertainment, and positive representation of women.
 
In August 2007, Cambra represented Hawai'i at the National Poetry Slam in Austin Texas. His team came in 18th out of 75 teams. He has appeared in numerous featured performances, community events, classrooms, and political demonstrations as well as on college radio shows and as a regular at most of the open mics and slams in Hawai'i. He has self-published his first collection of poetry, True Confessions of a Compulsive Liar, and is currently working on releasing a CD with the same name. For more information, go to www.myspace.com/poorwettree.