AUBURN — L/A Arts has announced two Edward Little High School students took first and second place in the 2016 Global Writes poetry slam competition in the Bronx, N.Y.

The winners, along with three of their fellow classmates, prepared for this event with classroom teacher Jill Hyland and a teaching artist from L/A Arts during a class at ELHS.

This is the second year that the two organizations have collaborated on this trip to New York, where the students competed against other high school students from schools in Brooklyn and the Bronx.

A morning first-round competition took place, from which three finalists were chosen to perform in front of a packed audience of 500 people in the Lovinger Theatre at Lehman College.

Of his final performance, first-place winner Ahmed Mohamed recalled, “I heard the cheering. It felt euphoric — it was amazing! People like me get to tell the world our stories.”

“With poetry, you are able to put how you feel into words and share it with others,” second-place winner Khadro Adow said. “It gives you confidence in who you are and where you come from.”