Araceli Flores, 15, is more than just a talented young writer. She is the winner of the 4th annual Parle Endeavors Battle of the Boroughs Teen Poetry Slam series. The youngest winner in the history of the event.
This rising junior at Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School has been performing at open mics for the last couple of years, attending with her friends, with the goal of becoming more comfortable sharing her work in front of a crowd. The confidence she built over that time proved to be essential during the competition. “I’ve been going to those just to practice getting on stage and performing with people,” she shared.
It showed.
While the Battle of the Boroughs Teen Poetry slam has been taking place every summer for the last few years, Araceli was unfamiliar with the competition, until she received a flyer for the series from Parle Endeavors founder after her performance at a Writopia teen open mic in Harlem earlier in the summer.
“It was awesome,” she recalled of the whole experience. “It was like straight out of a movie.”
Araceli made her way all the way to Queens to participate in the preliminary round. She was able to advance through to the Battle of the Boroughs semifinals, in Manhattan, before taking first place in the finals on July 25th at 651 ARTS in Downtown Brooklyn. Of the 10 teen finalists who made it to the final round, Araceli was actually the youngest. Ten poets, representing multiple boroughs, participated in the event, with teens as old as 19 years old.
Despite her win, Flores still admits the anxiety never left. “I always get so nervous before stuff like this,” she explained.
Walking into the Queens preliminary round alone, Flores was not expecting to walk out with the community she did. Finding herself surrounded by young, ambitious artists who encouraged one another just as strongly as they themselves competed.
“Everybody was so warm and welcoming,” she said. “We’re going to get up and do this regardless of the nerves. We’re going to be there for each other. We’re going to support one another, and we’re just going to get up and tell our stories.”
Asserting that while her performances may have pushed her as a poet, it was her friendships that gave her the bravery. “It’s definitely helped me get up a little more freely and bravely and feel a little more confident in myself,” she shared.
Battle of the Boroughs introduced Araceli Flores to a new group of poets, yet she says the atmosphere felt surprisingly familiar. As someone who’s involved in musical theater, she’s used to these collaborative creative spaces.
“The vibe felt very familiar,” she said. “Poetry is probably more my sport than musical theater, but it felt so nice to be performing in that kind of environment.”
She argued that winning was definitely an accomplishment, but winning while being the youngest in the room made the lessons she learned even more impactful. Declaring that she’ll always remember the conversations backstage with the older poets who shared advice about college, performing, and recommendations on where to compete.
“I was looking up to them the whole time,” she said. “To be able to absorb that knowledge was really fantastic… the biggest win is being able to collaborate with everybody and just experience it altogether.”
And Flores has no plans to slow down; she still sees herself attending open mics, competing in poetry slams, publishing her own work, and going wherever storytelling might take her.
“No matter what overall career I end up going into, I think storytelling will always be part of my life in whatever form it takes.”
Her win started with a flyer handed to her, yet her journey is only just beginning.
