Photo of students from Arthur and Polly Mays Conservatory of the Arts
Since 2015, Homestead-Miami Speedway has partnered with the Omari Hardwick bluapple Poetry Network of the Jason Taylor Foundation. Over that time, a select group of students from a Miami-Dade County high school has performed a poem on video each year based on a NASCAR or Homestead-Miami Speedway theme.
The performance of that poem has typically been shown during pre-race ceremonies of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. This year’s poem, with the theme of “We are Miami” is reflected in our 2020 eProgram on pages 108-109. (To view eProgram click here).
Five students from Arthur and Polly Mays Conservatory of the Arts in Goulds had their opportunity this year.
In addition, since 2016 bluapple Poetry Network and the Speedway have joined forces to hold the “Write Track Poetry Competition,” designed to promote school-wide interest amongst Miami-Dade County middle schools in creative writing and literacy through poetry, with a focus on a NASCAR theme. During the 2019-20 school year, 31 schools participated in the program. With a 100 percent participation rate, W.R. Thomas Middle School in Miami was the winning school, submitting 405 poems – the most of any participating school. The school received a donation from Homestead-Miami Speedway’s charitable outreach program, “Driving for a Cause, a donor-advised fund of the NASCAR Foundation.”
The winning individual poem was submitted by Katherine Guerra, an eighth grade student at Miami’s Richmond Heights Middle School. Guerra’s poem was professionally recorded and produced. The top poets, including Katherine, were given the unique opportunity to be driven to school in Homestead-Miami Speedway’s Official Pace Car.