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Lincoln Middle School student Isabella Roy has different ways of expressing herself.

The seventh grader enjoys poetry and dance, two activities where she excels.

Roy enjoys how rhyming is part of poetry, and it makes her happy.

Roy was part of a school poetry slam at school last year and ended up winning. She credits English Language Arts Reading teacher Carrie Newman for teaching her everything she knows about poetry.

Poetry, she said, allows a person to express actions.

“Last year we had to write about a movement, the Renaissance Period, and it was about a bunch of people and I wrote mine about how people lived in that time and how others may have been racist to them and brought them down,” she said. “I wrote a three-minute poem. It was a lot and I had to keep revising over and over, but it was fun.”

Another teacher stepped up to help Roy by allowing the use of a computer with a camera. With this, she introduced herself and read the lines of poetry and days later learned she was the winner.

Her other favorite course is dance, which is an activity that allows emotion and words to be expressed by physical movement. This also brings her joy.

“Dance teacher Ms. (Carnikka) Provost can critique you and give constructive criticism and not be that hard on you. She just wants you to do better and pushes you in the right direction,” Roy said.

Roy was to be in a dance number during a holiday event for the school but it didn’t pan out. But just the practices were fun.

Roy said she was in the back row last year and hoped for a spot in the front this year— she got her wish in practice. And she was able to do her split for many to see.

“Ms. Provost makes it so fun and energizing,” she said.

“It’s one of my favs. I like acting but I’m not good at it,” she said. “It’s just like dance. It’s something I can take pride in.”

Provost said Roy was one of her shy dancers last year but soon grew into the role.

“She came in with two left feet, and now she is rocking the front row,” Provost said of Roy. “In my classes, I had my students create goal sheets. She could not do a split, so her goal was to learn how to do one. After giving her direction and tips on how to get better, she came back to class knowing not only how to do one split, but knowing how to do all three. Right, left and middle. Her drive and willingness to learn is one of the reasons why I enjoy teaching!”

Roy also enjoys being part of theater arts, where students watch a movie, video or something similar and discuss it. They examine who is the main character, what was the plot and the climax.

Roy has a number of options that come to mind when thinking of a career, ranging from poetry to becoming a nurse. Her father, Omen Roy, wants her to do her best and graduate early so she can do activities in the future, she said.

Roy is also taking part in a course that helps prepare students for college and life.

Isabella Roy is the daughter of Omen Roy and Adriana Roy. She has a sister, Lavinya, in 10th grade.