The impression Starr Perry gives of an easygoing girl easily melts away when she speaks with the passion and wisdom of a woman three times her age.

The 22-year-old senior, who attends Lincoln University in Jefferson City , Mo. , said her passion is writing and performing poetry.

"I say things that people can't say," Perry said after giving a few descriptive verses of "Playing Both Fields," a poem she performed at her school. She intends to use her talent to record and distribute a performance poetry CD on television shows to encourage young poets.

Along with performing poetry, Perry is a broadcast journalism student. Print journalism is not her passion, she said. And missing the perfect words frustrates her significantly more than finding the perfect line in poetry.

Her experience at The New York Times Student Journalism Institute, Perry said, differs greatly from her poetry.

"I know I've got to do what I don't want to do to get to what I want," Perry said. "You just learn a lot from doing different things."

SHAWNEE MCFARLAND