JERSEY CITY — Rashad Wright, a Union Street poetry slam champion, was named the city's poet laureate last week.

The news, announced at the Jersey City Arts Council's Nov. 27 awards gala at White Eagle Hall, stunned this 24-year-old, a recent graduate of New Jersey City University who has been performing poetry for six years.

"I didn't know that I was in the city's eye or taken seriously," Wright said. "A big surprise."

Wright has spent years performing at slam competitions, reciting works like "Monsters," which compares society's view of black bodies to its depiction of monsters, and the self-explanatory "Ode to Basketball." He said these poems are different than what he would write while studying creative writing at NJCU.

"I felt like I had to separate the stuff I wrote in the classroom and the stuff I performed on stage," he said. "Spoken word didn't always seem like it belonged in a classroom."

The position comes with a two-year term and a $3,000 annual stipend. Wright said he has been granted studio space at Mana Contemporary and will collaborate with Mana on events in the next year.

The last Jersey City poet laureate was Aaron B. Jackson, named in 2004.

Edvige Giunta was one of Wright's professors at NJCU. Giunta told The Jersey Journal she had just been telling her husband that Wright is a "superstar" days before he was named the poet laureate. She called him an "exceptional" student.

"As a teacher, once in a while you meet a student that should not be taught," she said. "As a teacher you feel that your biggest responsibility is to get out of the way and let that student just test his wings and find his way."

The arts council's chair, Robinson Holloway, told The Jersey Journal that Wright displays both talent and charisma, but even those qualities are secondary to his mission to improve lives through the power of the spoken and written word.

"Rashad was already having an impact on the community, and the official position will just amplify that," she said. "I think at the end of his term, Rashad will be a better poet, and Jersey City will be a better place."

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.