In a large crowded room filled with poets, musicians and artists, senior Stephanie Kealey shares a poem she had scribbled in her notebook just a few days before. Her words are accepted by the audience as the approving sound of snaps fills the crowd.

Earlier this year, Kealey learned she was able to express her feelings through her poetry and realized that she wanted to share her passion with other people. After attending her first poetry slam in January, Kealey knew this was the environment that she belonged in and it was a safe place for her to share her work with others who understood and appreciated it.

“The reason I started the slams wasn’t because I had this huge idea of doing something that’s successful and to be known for it,” Kealey said. “It was something that I’m passionate about and something I want to do and I want to see how many people I can spread it to.”

This summer, Kealey decided she wanted to bring something unique closer to where more of her friends and classmates could experience it. Toward the beginning of July, Kealey went to speak with the two owners of the The Art Factory. She asked if they currently were putting on any poetry slams and if she could host one.

“The owners took me outside and had me read one of my poems on the spot and were like, ‘OK, let’s see what you’ve got,’” Kealey said. “And then afterward, they were like, “OK, we think you’re the real deal and you can pick a night next week to put on this event, and if it works, you can work with us.”

Five days later, Kealey put everything together for the night of her very first poetry slam. The owners were so pleased with more than 75 attendees on the first night that they offered Kealey a volunteer-based internship at The Art Factory and now host her slams every other Thursday night.

At these slam nights, more than just poetry is performed. Some people come to sing, play their instruments or even reenact monologues from plays. Although Kealey wants to continue to branch out and get other students involved, many already come every other Thursday to express themselves.

Junior Alex Norcross heard about the slam nights from junior Travis Hampton, and on the first night he attended the slams, he decided to play the guitar on stage.

“It gave me a place to play — a place where I can go out and kind of put on my art, so to say,” Norcross said. “My number one passion has always been performing, but I’ve never really had a place to do it. Since I found out about The Art Factory, it’s given me somewhere to go for a place to play when no one else would give me one.”

Students from all different schools come to the slams to show their art because they feel that it is one of the only safe places that they can go without being judged and are able to open up.

“You see these people and you get to experience what goes through their mind and the whole thought process of performing,” Kealey said. “It is so cool to be able to see what people have done and what they have felt. It helps you to get to know people without even being friends.”

One of Kealey’s major goals, besides being able to perform her own poetry, is to create a night that a wide variety of people can attend and be able to showcase their art. She now realizes, however, that her slam night is much bigger than just one night every other week where her peers can perform. It is a place where she sees people open up by sharing what they are passionate about.

“The thing that has made me realize how important it is to the community is when other people tell me that the slams help them,” Kealey said. “Whether or not it’s about my poem or someone else’s, it doesn’t matter. It’s just the fact that they came to the Art Factory and were inspired and realize that it’s OK for them to feel something that is painful and then for them to be able to express that in the future. I think that is what makes the slams successful, knowing that other people are healing from them.”