| About 1,500 OUSD 9th and 10th grade students participated in the June Jordan poetry contest this year during workshops and classes in school. Forty three contestants were selected as semifinalists. Pulitzer prize winning author and activist Alice Walker selected 9 poems to honor at this years June Jordan Poetry Prize Awards Ceremony.
2006-2007 school year winners
Click here to see the winning poems
First Place
Johnny Phommasyha
Media AcademyHigh School
Second Place
Kim Bowen
Skyline High School
Third Place (tie)
Imani Bibbs Oakland High School
Gerardo Mujica Media Academy High School
Honorable Mention:
Rocio Ochoa Mandela High School
Dawayne Robertson East OaklandSchool of the Arts
Julieann Siu Oakland TechnicalHigh School
Anne Chen Oakland High School
Enrique Sanabria Oakland High School
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2005-2006 school year Winners
First Place:
Risks of the Pen
by Anna Yeung, Oakland Tech
Second Place:
What is Danger
by Yingsi Zhana, Oakland Tech
Third Place(there are two 3rd place winners):
The Danger of Reality
by Terry Downward, Oakland Tech
Red Eyes
by Paola Gonzalez, Mandela High School
Poems of Special Merit( there are 5 poems of Special Merit)
Rise and Shine
by Jackie Brownlee, Life Academy
Life as a Teen
by Jessica Levey, Skyline High School
Keep it Moving
by Ronald Mills, Excel High School
Father Figure
by Kathy Wade, CBIT High School
Little Girl
by Dannae Washington, mandela High School
A special thanks to Amy Brooks-Gottesfeld, OUSD English Language Arts coach, for organizing this event and all the teachers and advisors who worked with our students.
Congratulations to all the participants! |  AUTHOR AND POET ALICE WALKER holds up a June Jordan poetry anthology while speaking at the June Jordan Poetry Prize awards ceremony at Oakland High School May 25, 2006 |
