Bombic Sans is Payton's one and only slam poetry team! We work together to create group and individual performance poetry and compete at the Rooted and Radical Festival (formerly known as Louder than a Bomb) in the spring.

When: Thursday Enrichment 230

Join: Application Process - Tryouts are held each year in the fall.

Leaders: Lucy De Maio -lrdemaio@cps.edu,  Yaya Lopez - yalopez12@cps.edu

Sponsor: Ms. Jamie Parlor, Dr. Allison Gillick

Achievements: We compete in the Rooted and Radical Youth Poetry Festival. Last year, we had two All-Star Poets, 4 individual awards, and placed 2nd as a team with our group poem.

Social Media: Instagram - @wpcp.ltab

Members of the club vote on a book and meet weekly to discuss the book over the course of a quarter while tasting different baked goods. 

When: Thursday Enrichments 324

Join: Show up! (Level 2)

Leader:  June Lamb - jlamb3@cps.edu, Kaelyn McColl - kemccoll@cps.edu 

Sponsor: Ms. Howard

Leader:  Payton Nicholoff - psnicholoff@cps.edu 

Sponsor: Mr. Seth Davis

The Paw Print is a student news publication that publishes a quarterly newspaper and operates a regularly updated website aimed at giving students a platform to express their views and write about their interests. We teach members valuable journalistic standards and give them a means of refining their writing skills by working on articles important to them. We also allow students to express themselves through other mediums, such as cartoons or photos. But above all, we aim to give a voice to the student body to ensure their concerns and inputs are represented in the day to day of Payton life.

When: Monday Enrichments 242 and Thursday Enrichments 206

Join: Show up (Level 3)

Presidents: Kieran Blake - kblake4@cps.edu, Alexa Gola - aigola@cps.edu

Leader:  Saron Alem - stalem@cps.edu, Elena Whitford - ejwhitford@cps.edu, Steven Jiang - sjiang5@cps.edu, Isabella Sun - isun@cps.edu, Maren Theyssen - mktheyssen@cps.edu, Leah Galibois - lagalibois@cps.edu, Palmer Norman - pnorman@cps.edu, Camila Alvarado - caalvarado4@cps.edu, Charlie Zimmer - cpzimmer@cps.edu, Claire Anderson - canderson49@cps.edu, Dylan Boras - dboras@cps.edu 

Achievements: 2024-25 School Year: 16 Scholastic Press Association of Chicago Awards; 16 Illinois Journalism Education Awards; three-time reigning Scholastic Press Association of Chicago student fellowship recipient; reigning Scholastic Press Association of Chicago teacher fellowship recipient; reigning Scholastic Press Association of Chicago logo competition winner. Dozens of other awards have also been won in previous years.

Social Media: Instagram - @paytonpawprint

Website: paytonpawprint.com

We are a space where writers can practice their craft, hone their skills and connect over their shared love of writing. 

When: Monday Enrichments 234

Join: Show up (Level 1)

Leader:  Ivy Lefebvre - ijlefebvre@cps.edu, Addison Davis - amdavis35@cps.edu, Sora Schrank - sschrank@cps.edu, Aniyah Coleman - ancoleman8@cps.edu 

Sponsor: Dr. Gillick

Our goal is to: strengthen our speaking ability, build confidence, and learn how to communicate effectively. We do this through practicing speaking skills, playing games, and competing in regional speech tournaments through the National Speech and Debate Association

When: Tuesday Enrichments 220

Join: Show up (Level 4)

Leader:  ijdoi@cps.edu, hedoi@cps.edu 

Sponsor: Mr. Sam Lee

Achievements: We compete in area tournaments and have placed in finals in the past.

Leader: Bella Brown - bbrown98@cps.edu

Sponsor: Ms. Tiffany Batiste-Gilmore

Writing Workshop is a student-run club that aims to help Payton students foster and grow their writing skills. We provide writing tutoring for everything from class assignments to personal creative writing projects. We also provide resources to facilitate students' entrance into various creative writing writing programs, including matching students to programs right for them and helping with their applications. Our goal is to help students connect with writing as an art instead of just classwork. Writing Workshop meets every other Friday enrichment, and we bring snacks for google classroom members!

When: Friday Enrichments 

Join: Show up (Level 2)

Leader: Ava Carlson - aecarlson2@cps.edu, Charlotte Walters - cmwalters1@cps.edu, Noam Cohen -  nscohen@cps.edu, Olivia Groh -  ogroh@cps.edu, Chloe Kahlil ckhalil@cps.edu 

Sponsor: Dr. Allison Gillick

Achievements: We've accumulated over 250 hours of tutoring and other service work so far! We've also successfully expanded to tutoring elementary and middle schoolers online, and have our own website: https://writing-workshop.com/