Monroeville teen recognized for poem at CMU writing competition

A message of beauty, empowerment and recognition of one’s self-worth was something Monroeville resident Eliyah Roberts believed needed to be told.

“I know that a lot of black girls don’t hear this message a lot,” said the Shady Side Academy senior. “I just feel proud getting my message out to the world: How great they are, how smart they are, how beautiful they are.

“They’re really underrepresented in everything. So I feel like that message of black girls being great at everything needs to be heard much more than it is now.”

Eliyah, 17, delivered that message through her poem, “An Ode to the Dark Skin Black Girl,” which earned second place for high school poetry at Carnegie Mellon University’s 20th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Writing Awards.

Her poem can found online via the university’s website, cmu.edu.

First place went to Ella Engberg, 14, of Pittsburgh CAPA for “hey beautiful.”

Eliyah said she draws inspiration from hip-hop legends like Nas and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer the late Notorious BIG, as well as modern day Shakespeares such as Lin-Manuel Miranda.

“I really love poetry because it lets me express my emotions in a really creative way, and not everyone can do that,” Eliyah said. “I feel like it’s very special to me because writing is just so beautiful. It doesn’t matter how much practice you have. At the end of the day, it’s how you feel and what you want to express to the world.”

CMU’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day Writing Awards have provided an outlet for youths to express their personal experiences with difference and discrimination through poetry and prose since 1999. The awards are open to all high school and college students in Western Pennsylvania and all CMU campuses.

This is not Eliyah’s first award from CMU. She was honored via the same awards program in 2018 for her poem, “You Better Aim at the Sky.”

“I’ve been writing a lot more than I did back when I wrote the first poem,” she said. “I took writing classes. Through a lot of poems, I found my way through the words.”

Eliyah also credited her success to English teacher Jacqueline Weaver, who supported her poetic efforts.

“Shady Side has been a really rigorous, academically challenging school,” Eliyah said. “I really managed my time well and focused more and improved on my academic skills.”

She hopes to parlay those skills into entertainment success, study musical theater and make it to Broadway and the movies.

Engineering is her fallback plan. She and her brother, Ezekyel, and Trent Fuller took home first place at the 44th annual National Society of Black Engineers’ National Robotics Competition in March 2018.