Oak Park and River Forest High School
OPRFHS Banner_1.png

Home

For Chicago’s Oak Park and River Forest High School’s Spoken Word Club, there is one phrase that reigns supreme: Respect the Mic.

Areas of Impact

Self-confidence

By providing a space for students to explore creatively and think introspectively they experience a boost in confidence that they’ll continue to build over time.

Attitude and Motivation

Whether you’re unfamiliar with spoken word or already committed, the club will be a place to exercise your skills. Students are challenged to explore the dimensions of who they are and give it an artistic language. 

Academics

Academics remain the priority for every student. The club provides a positive impact on students’ overall engagement and making connections from other subjects.

behavior

Those who participate in the Spoken Word Club see a positive impact in cultivating community and social groups. We’re all encouraged to think a little deeper, listen more, and speak our truth.

 
“Poets I know sometimes joke that the poetry club at Oak Park River Forest High School is the best MFA program in the Chicagoland area. Like all great jokes, this one is dead serious.”
— Eve L. Ewing, award-winning poet, playwright, scholar, and sociologist
 

For Chicago’s Oak Park and River Forest High School’s Spoken Word Club, there is one phrase that reigns supreme: Respect the Mic

This vivid new collection of poetry and prose — curated by award-winning and bestselling poets Hanif Abdurraqib, Franny Choi, Peter Kahn, and Dan “Sully” Sullivan — illuminates just that, uplifting the incredible legacy this community has cultivated. Among the dozens of current students and alumni, Respect the Mic features work by NBA star Iman Shumpert, National Youth Poet Laureates Kara Jackson and Natalie Richardson, comedian Langston Kerman, and more.

In its pages, you hear the sprawling echoes of students, siblings, lovers, new parents, athletes, entertainers, scientists, and more –all sharing a deep appreciation for the power of storytelling. A celebration of the past, a balm for the present, and a blueprint for the future, Respect the Mic offers a tender, intimate portrait of American life, and conveys how in a world increasingly defined by separation, poetry has the capacity to bind us together.

 
 
respectthemic_cvr.jpg

Available to order