By Heather Leszczewicz Special to OnMilwaukee.com Published Jan 05, 2007 at 9:48 AM

High school students are invited to celebrate their voices as the group Teen Voices hosts Voltage! a night of spoken word and poems Friday, Jan. 19 at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Cener, 325 W. Walnut St.

In order to participate, students must come to the event and sign up no later than 7 p.m. All poems have to be original, be three minutes long or less and will be reviewed by judges on content, writing and delivery.

Doors open at 6 p.m. and the show starts at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $2 for high school students with an I.D. and $7 general admission. There will be performances by hip-hop artist Sose, poet Kahn Davison and DJ Shon G.

The event is the first of three Voltage! qualifying competitions; the others will be held on both Feb. 23 and March 23. The winners of these events will get a $100 cash prize and a chance to be on the Wisconsin national teen spoken word team.

Heather Leszczewicz Special to OnMilwaukee.com

Originally from Des Plaines, Ill., Heather moved to Milwaukee to earn a B.A. in journalism from Marquette University. With a tongue-twisting last name like Leszczewicz, it's best to go into a career where people don't need to say your name often.

However, she's still sticking to some of her Illinoisan ways (she won't reform when it comes to things like pop, water fountain or ATM), though she's grown to enjoy her time in the Brew City.

Although her journalism career is still budding, Heather has had the chance for some once-in-a-lifetime interviews with celebrities like actor Vince Vaughn and actress Charlize Theron, director Cameron Crowe and singers Ben Kweller and Isaac Hanson of '90s brother boy band Hanson. 

Heather's a self-proclaimed workaholic but loves her entertainment. She's a real television and movie fanatic, book nerd, music junkie, coffee addict and pop culture aficionado.