The Student Poetry Society is alive and thriving. What was once a desolate club with barely enough members to qualify as such is now an exciting collective of talented students eager to create art and maybe even share it.
This semester, the society’s officers consist of Margot Thevoux, a senior politics and law major who serves as the club’s creative director, Colby Aguilar, a senior anthropology major who runs public relations, Sara Torrentera, a senior history major who acts as the club’s secretary, Juan Rocha, a sophomore political science major and events and operations coordinator and Masha Moore, a business management major and the club’s treasurer.
The student organization was established in 2021, and these officers were all members, but attendance was dwindling fast. The founders of the club were all graduating or wanting to step down, and the current officers knew they had to step up to save the dying club.
“I think we all started because it needed an officer so it wouldn’t die, and we didn’t want it to die,” Torrentera explained.
But when asked why each officer joined, they all had different answers.
Thevoux explained, “I just needed something for my resume, which was looking very bleak.” Despite this, she has grown to love poetry and writes it often, though she refuses to share it with the club’s members.
Aguilar said he became an officer “because no one else signed up,” but he has been enthusiastic about reading and writing his entire life.
Though she does not love writing poetry, Torrentera has always loved reading it. She was so dedicated to the club that, if need be, she was willing to be an officer during her semester abroad.
Rocha has “always been very very passionate about poetry and literature.” Initially, he hoped to study literature in Colombia, but after deciding to attend UTSA, he scoured Rowdylink for any literature-related clubs to get his fix.
Moore was not able to attend the interview, but her fellow officers explained that she has been in the club since the beginning and is always working her hardest to see it succeed.
Collectively, the officers agreed that “We are too stubborn to let it die.”
This semester, they have had unique poetry-related challenges and activities at every weekly meeting. During last week’s meeting, everyone made blackout poems, and at the next meeting, they will be doing paint chip poetry.
The officers are also focusing on fundraising for future events. They want their club to be free and explained how dues often disincentivize people from joining a club, so they never want to make their members pay for anything.
Last semester, the society attended the Texas Book Festival in Austin using what they made through fundraising, and this semester they will be attending the San Antonio Book Festival during April, which is National Poetry Month.
Compared to what the club was looking like in 2021, Rocha said “a complete transformation” has occurred. Members are now open and talkative, willing and excited to share their poetry and insights with the rest of the club.
The Student Poet Society has meetings on Tuesdays in MH 3.03.20.
“We have free notebooks and pencils and candies, so that’s our bribery for y’all to come to our club,” Torrentera explained.
So join the Student Poetry Society and see why poetry is all the rage these days.
