Where Are They Now?

Our Past Students

Carlos IRO Burgos began as a student within the Yonkers Writes program at Yonkers High School in 2009. He was only with the program for one year but has continued to stay connected and show us just how much of an impact we’ve had on his future. He is now a self-published poet whose life mission is to create sophisticated poetry that is relatable to as many people as possible, writers and non-writers. IRO is the word man in Arawak which is the language of the Tainos, one of the native tribes of the Caribbean he identifies with. Why man? No, he doesn’t think he’s the man. His legal name is Carlos, which means man. Not only does he teach history lessons in order to explain his artist pseudonym, he also focuses on community building tactics by networking and sustaining healthy personal relationships within various communities. He runs performance poetry workshops at the high school he graduated from in his hometown, Yonkers N.Y. and studies at Hunter College. He is an English major with a concentration in Creative Writing / Poetry. He also consistently serves as a judge for Global Writes’ slam poetry competitions at Lehman College and has hosted Global Writes Finals Slams as well.

IRO has performed at venues such as the Schomburg Theater in Harlem, Bowery Poetry Club, El Museo del Barrio, Iona College, Clark Atlanta University and the legendary Nuyorican Poet’s Café. IRO has co-written two professional plays with Urbintel, Inc. and performed in one out of the two, in colleges and small theaters across the United States. He self-published a collection of poetry, From Boy to IRO, in 2011. The text is now being used within several Puerto Rican Studies courses within the City University of New York.

He doesn’t stop at spoken word and theatre. This past summer he participated as a key component of a panel discussion for the Technology Leadership Institute of 2011 at Columbia University’s Graduate Center in NYC. Most recently, he was selected as the keynote speaker for the Technology Leadership Institute of 2012 at the Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, N.Y. where he was fortunate enough to speak in front of over 30 educators and administrators about methods and approaches to educating children of today and generations to come. From Boy to IRO Book Link: https://www.createspace.com/3755687