Archbishop Ryan junior Neisha Pierre Jean-Louis recently wrote a book of poems.
Everyone has a story. Neisha Pierre Jean-Louis knows how powerful the written word still is. So she wrote a book.
The junior at Archbishop Ryan High School is a very active student in extracurricular activities such as Creative Writing and Poets Club, National Honor Society, Future Engineers and Book Club. She can also add published author to her repertoire.
On Friday afternoon, students and faculty gathered in the library at Ryan for the book signing of Jean-Louis’ The Power of I Am.
The Power of I Am is a collection of poems for people who may be going through difficult times and feel as if they are misunderstood.
Jean-Louis didn’t necessarily enter high school with a book in mind, but her interactions with fellow students led her to start thinking about it.
“Freshman year, I came to Ryan and students were telling me about their problems and asking for my advice,” said Jean-Louis. “I didn’t really know what to tell them. So I just kept it in the back of my head.”
She knew she wanted to help those who were seeking advice, but had a difficult time finding an outlet to express these feelings, that is until an important lesson in English class. It was November of the school year and her English teacher, Mrs. Rosemarie Biron, introduced her class to “I Am Poems.”
Jean-Louis started to enjoy writing these poems, and one day her mother found some of her poems and gave her some encouragement that would shape her story.
“You’d be a really good writer,” said Edelyne Jean-Louis, her mother.
At first, she said she didn’t take it too seriously until she ended up thinking about the possibilities. Jean-Louis began writing the book in November and finished in April of the following year.
After dedicating months to completing the story, she realized how much this meant to her.
“This was important for me because I was going through a really dark time, I wanted everyone to like me and I wanted to be accepted, but I realized that’s not important, and that’s how I came up with my quote that, ‘People are like trends, they come and go, but if we know who we are we will not.’ ”
Like any author writing their first book, there were difficulties in figuring out how to make everything sound the way she wanted. She took the time to think of the important balance.
“It would be more impactful if a certain poem went after this one. Like a really sad one came after a really happy one,” said Jean-Louis. “Like the contrast instead of two really depressing ones.”
Her mother encouraged her to write the book, but she has to thank her sister for thinking about getting it published.
The hardest part of the whole process for Jean-Louis? Waiting for it to be published.
“The hardest part was the one-and-a-half-year wait, to get it published, but during that time I really found myself and I realized that some people come into your life to teach you a lesson and others are just meant to be there forever.”
The long wait to be published ended on Aug. 4. She was still in a state of shock and recalled crying and made her sister pinch her to know that she was indeed awake.
Jean-Louis says her friends and the faculty of Ryan couldn’t have been more supportive, and the administration at Ryan couldn’t be more proud.
Joseph McFadden, Class of 1997, is the principal at Ryan and knows how special this is.
“How many teenagers can claim having a published book of poetry?” asked McFadden. “The most inspirational part is how Neisha has taken something so personal and shared it with the world. It’s very inspiring.”
The young author still has more stories to tell. She is in the process of writing two more books.
“One is a book of quotes” said Jean-Louis. “I’m thinking about doing another one…Instead of focusing on a wide variety of topics, focusing on a hot topic in our society, and just writing from a certain person’s point of view.”
Jean-Louis is doing this while simultaneously looking at universities to attend after graduating high school. The two schools she has her eye on are Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania.
To other young people who aren’t sure if they have what it takes to write a book, she has a strong message for them.
“Go for it,” she said. “At the end of the day, the only thing that holds you back from accomplishing your dreams is yourself.” ••
The book can be purchased at: npjeanlouis19.wixsite.com/the-power-in-us-all/the-power-of-i-am-book
John Cole can be reached at [email protected]
