Scarlett 7th grader’s winning poetic rap reflects on diversity

Tamsin Aherne urges us to ‘be kind to every kind of mankind’

By Jo Mathis/AAPS District News Editor

The challenge: Write a poetic rap reflecting one of three themes:

  • COVID-19 Pandemic
  • School Life in 2020
  • Celebrating Diversity

Scarlett seventh grader Tamsin Aherne decided to meet that challenge posed by the 2021 Masterpieces Meemic Poetic Rap Student Contest.

And now she is one of 50 winners from across four states.

Tamsin recites her winning poetic rap.

It was just a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing for fun, Tamsin recalls, noting that she looked into it after Scarlett teacher/Student Council co-sponsors Leslie Baugh and Laura Morning talked about it at a Zoom meeting.

“Diversity is important to me because I feel everyone needs to be represented,” Tamsin says when asked why she chose the theme. “Everyone should be proud of who they are, and we should all be respectful to everyone.”

She says her last line—”And we all can be kind to every kind of mankind”—was a sentence she had thought of previously.

“I thought it would be a perfect finish for the poem,” she says. “What really inspired me was some of the past events that have happened. I was upset and I know others were too. I just thought we could all use a little kindness, positivity, and hope to keep us going.”

Tamsin is the daughter of Carpenter second grade teacher Sarah Aherne, who is obviously proud.

“Tamsin has always loved to write but I think her poetry has helped her to process many of the events of the last year,” says Aherne. “She is a reader, writer, and activist and I love how she is learning to use her voice and privilege to speak out against racism and oppression.” 

Tamsin is a member of the Scarlett Student Council, BSU, and Miss STEM Careers. And she’s much more, according to Leslie Baugh, Project Lead the Way teacher at Scarlett.

“Tamsin is a leader,” says Baugh, “a game-changer, an upstander, a leader, and proudly amplifies her voice for positive change.”

Baugh said everyone could take a lesson in celebrating diversity as Scarlett has done for so many years.

“I often share with others, `It is our differences that unite us at Scarlett!'” she says. “We thrive in a school culture that embraces and welcomes differences.”

“The students of Scarlett have taught me so much. We continue to grow as different, unique, interdependent human beings—together—each and every day. Tamsin said it best: `We celebrate these differences.'”

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