Four students competed and won the Association of College Unions Internationals (ACUI) Poetry Slam Region 5 on Feb. 4-6 at Eastern Carolina University.

Brandon Brokington, Damiqa Champion, Arrington Green, and Carmen Nedab performed against the University of Kentucky and won by a difference of three points.

Students on campus were allowed to sign up to be a part of them team that was sponsored by the Memorial Student Union.

The two qualifications of signing up were being a full-time student and being in good standards within the University. Students went through preliminary tryouts and  eventually it was narrowed down to the four students.

The team is headed by the advisor Xavier Carrington, the coordinating director from Macon, GA.

“I think this team shows the diversity at A&T,” said Carrington. “It shows the cultural experience.”

Before the Regional’s, the poets did individual practice. Some of the topics were children soldiers, February 1 and drug dealers.

Arriving at the competition, students checked in and attended a workshop before competing. The purpose was to be a stress reliever and learn new techniques.

One exercise they performed was to embody emotion without speaking to each other.

There was another exercise where they were to write a piece off of the two words, “your name,” and read the poem in different emotions.

Lastly, they did breathing exercises to help put them back in the place where they wrote their pieces.

After the workshop, the competition started. All the members on the team individually spoke their competitive style poetry. This was the ACUI’s first time having the contestants compete as a team.

They were graded on stage presence, grammatical influence, ability to capture the audience and relating to the matter they were speaking on.

For Nedab, a senior business marketing major from Sterling, VA, it was her first time entering her work in a competition.

“I never do any slams,” says Nedab. “I felt a certain way for having my work graded and I am very protective over it. It is helping me grow, though; to perform and touch someone is all that really matters.”

The competition portion lasted for about an hour and half. After being announced the winners, they were awarded medals, certificates and registration for the National Cupsi.

When it was over, the teams went to hang out and learn more about each other.

The team will be attending the National Cupsi April 6-10 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI. The team members will be expecting more workshops and a longer competition.

“I didn’t know that the Union sponsored a poetry team,” said Corey Branch, a sophomore Computer Engineering major from Burgaw, NC. “If they are winning, they should get recognized and I would go support them if they had something in Greensboro.”

Nedab hopes to get more exposure. “It is understandable that a lot of people don’t know about us because we aren’t a sport and because we aren’t competing in Greensboro. Hopefully A&T can host a competition and people will come out because they recognize us from other organizations on campus.”

• Necole Jackson