UW-Madison collegiate slam team brings home top prize

The University of Wisconsin–Madison Collegiate Slam Team took first place at the 2010 College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational hosted by Emerson College in Boston.

Competing against 32 other collegiate teams, the UW–Madison team was made up of five students, including four from the First Wave program, Camea Osborn, Marne Bruckner, Jasmine Mans and Leslie Thomas, and UW–Madison sophomore Deonate Brown.

The final four teams competed in mid-April before a sold-out audience in Boston’s Majestic Theater and included teams from the University of Minnesota, Macalester College and the University of California-Santa Cruz.

“This is this first national championship for UW–Madison,” said Willie Ney, executive director of the UW–Madison Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives, which includes the First Wave Hip-Hop Theater Ensemble.

The UW–Madison Collegiate Slam Team was coached by Katrina Flores and co-sponsored by the Multicultural Student Coalition, which organized the UW–Madison campus slam and covered the expenses for the team to compete in Boston. The Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives operates under the School of Education.

The Association of College Unions International supports its members in the development of community through education, advocacy and the delivery of services. The association has identified 11 core competencies for college union and student activities profession. This four-day event addressed the core competencies of communications, intercultural proficiency and leadership.