“So to all my Black and Brown boys,” Hawk Okpokwasili ’25 declared in his Deerfield story, standing before the entire student body during the school meeting on Wednesday, February 19, 2025. “Don’t let no one tell you nothing… Because they don’t know how far you’ve… or where you’re at vs. where you been.”
With his rhythmic, commanding delivery, Hawk proclaimed a powerful message of resilience, determination, and self-worth. His words motivated and thrilled the audience, bringing them to their feet in a rare standing ovation. It was something that even his English teacher Andy Stallings—who is also in charge of organizing Deerfield Stories—had never seen before.
Okpokwasili’s journey with slam poetry began in fifth grade through his school’s annual competitions, but even before that, he enjoyed writing poetry and songs in his free time, filling notebooks with lyrics as early as first grade. When he discovered slam poetry—a combination of storytelling, rhythm, and performance—he “kind of just fell in love with it.” Writing has been his way of expressing love, processing emotions, and making sense of the world around him. “I wrote one about my grandfather, who I never got to know because he died before I was born,” he shared. “I practiced it a bunch and promised myself not to cry, but once I got on stage, I cried and couldn’t finish.”
Throughout middle school, he participated in intramural slam poetry contests every year, consistently placing first or second. Even his early pieces tackled complex themes, including police brutality—a topic that left his teachers in tears and brought him a first-place award at the age of twelve.
For his Deerfield Story, Okpokwasili knew he wanted to write about something both personal and impactful. He also intended to engage with the audience, keep them on the edge of their seats, and surprise them with a unique presentation. “I wanted to catch them off guard,” he explained. “I wanted them wondering, ‘Yo, what’s this next line gonna be?’”
Writing the poem took nearly two months of on-and-off work. Okpokwasili allowed his ideas to percolate naturally. “It was never really like a chore,” he said. “It was more like I sat down and just wrote whatever came to mind.” Unlike typical Deerfield Stories, Okpokwasili memorized his speech unconsciously as a result of “reading it hundreds and hundreds of times.”
Despite having heard Okpokwasili read it before, Mr. Stallings mentioned that he “wasn’t really prepared for the impact Okpokwasili could deliver with the speech memorized.” “It’s really hard to convince a whole room full of people that a poem is worth hearing… That’s the first time I’ve seen the whole student body get up and give an ovation for a Deerfield Story,” he reflected.
As Okpokwasili prepares to head to Brown University, he hopes to join their slam poetry team, continue sharing this passion of his, and “stay in touch with that side of [him].” He carries forward the lessons poetry has taught him: to embrace individuality, break away from expectations, and leave an impact through words. “I wanted to get a message across,” he says. “Don’t stay in a box. Be unique. Be different.”