CLICK HERE for photos from the Final Reading on June 18, 2025!
CLICK HERE to read this year's Anthology!
Directors’ Note
Dear Family and Friends of Rising Loaves,
During our first week together, students traveled to Phillips Academy, where they joined high school-age poets and thinkers in a small auditorium. The room grew quiet in anticipation of the visiting poet, Harlym 125. Then his voice rang out—booming, bold, clear: “We have a purpose. We are here.” The audience repeated his words. He asked us to imagine a world where everybody eats, where everyone has a seat at the table. It was the perfect way to begin our 11th year of Rising Loaves.
This summer, our visiting director, Lee Krishnan, selected the theme: “Word by Word, Change the World.” Lee invited our students to explore civic engagement and personal empowerment by reflecting on the power of their words—and their worlds. But how can we describe this power? How can writing shape lives and communities? How can young people change the world?
Over the course of three weeks, our writers and artists found the answers in each other—and in themselves. They discovered that we begin to change the world by understanding the past, looking closely at our present lives, and imagining the future we want to create. Each poem and story changed how we see ourselves and each other. Each word became a bridge—linking us in a shared, imagined community where everybody eats. Rising Loaves students supported one another at every step: brainstorming, writing, and taking the vulnerable step of sharing their writing in front of an audience.
Throughout the program, students wrote with poets, professors, and artists. They explored historical documents held in the vaults of the Lawrence History Center, learning that the past holds powerful keys to understanding our world today.
The Rising Loaves Writing Program would not be possible without the time, heart, and talent of our incredible volunteers, poets, and teachers: Sheila Barry, Susan Grabski, Amita Kiley, Jennifer Falu, Julia Perlowski, Harlym 125, Nurilys Cintron, Sara Morin, Yaneris Collado, Edwin Santana, Christine Jee, Rubi Camacho, Patrick Guerrero, Lou Bernieri, Robert Forrant, and Destiny Medina.
Our students filled their notebooks with stories, insights, and dreams. The pieces in this anthology are just a small window into the deep thinking and creative spirit they brought to every day.
A heartfelt thank you to the Lawrence History Center for opening your doors—and your archives—to these young writers and researchers. They leave this program knowing that history is not just something they study—it’s something they are part of.
With gratitude,
Mary Guerrero and Lee Krishnan
Program Co-Director
The Rising Loaves” is hosted by the Lawrence History Center, developed in collaboration with Andover Bread Loaf (ABL), and funded in part by ABL, ECCF Greater Lawrence Summer Fund, Artemas W. Stearns Trust, Rogers Family Foundation, Josephine G. Russell Trust, and the Lawrence Public Schools ‘Summer Meals’ Program.
