In the 2025 Junior League of Washington’s Youth Poetry Contest, we had three winners. Esmeralda Parada won first place and Reginald Galloway IV won second place for 6th grade, and Zahkari Kollore won second place for 8th grade. In addition to receiving first place, Esmeralda Parada’s poem “For My People” received a special commendation for “Theme Mastery” and “Poetic Elements and Language.” This means Esmeralda’s poem achieved a perfect score in those categories.

In the 2025 Parkmont Poetry Festival, fifteen poems by eleven Workshop students were finalists. Three of our writers won, Brandi Fisher and Valentino Johnson in the middle school division and Marlon Holder in the high school division. Our students were the only winners from any neighborhood DCPS school in the city.

In the 2025 D.C. Public Library (Southeast) Haiku Contest, four of our students swept the competition. Justice Moore won first place, Romel Jones won second place, Damarco Bray won third place, and Massiah Jones won an honorable mention.