Poetry Out Loud State Finals

Spokane Student Wins State Poetry Out Loud Competition

Langston Ward, a junior from Mead High School in Spokane, won the 2012  Poetry Out Loud state final with his recitations of Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold, The Truly Great by Stephen Spender, and Chicago by Carl Sandburg.

 

State Poetry Out Loud champion, Langston Ward, from Mead High School in Spokane. Photo by Cortney Kelley

As the winner of the state final Ward won a $200 prize and an all-expenses-paid trip (with a chaperone) to compete in the National Finals in Washington, DC, May 13-15, 2012. His school received $500 for the purchase of poetry books.

 

Runner-up, Sommer Harris, a senior from South Whidbey High School in Langley won $100 and a $200 stipend for her school to purchase poetry books.

 

Sixty-eight schools and over 20,000 students in Washington state participated in Poetry Out Loud this year. After classroom-level and then school-wide competitions, these schools sent their top students to one of seven regional finals, held in Northwest Washington, Southwest Washington, Central Washington, Eastern Washington, Southeast Washington and the Puget Sound region, which was split into two regional finals.

 

Twelve students advanced to the state finals on Saturday, March 10, at the Rilato Theatre in Tacoma. Through three rounds of poetry recitations they performed works selected from an anthology of more than 600 classic and contemporary poems. Participants were judged by a panel with expertise in various aspects of poetry and performance and awarded points for accuracy, physical presence, level of difficulty, and other criteria.

 

State Poetry Out Loud runner up, Sommer Harris, from South Whidbey High School in Langley. Photo by Cortney Kelley

Three students received honorable mentions: Bonnie Blanchard, a senior from West Valley High School in Yakima, Dylan Nehrenberg, a senior from Kent High School in Kent; and Vanessa Serrano, a senior from Camas High School in Camas.

 

This is the seventh year that high school students in Washington State took part in Poetry Out Loud, a national arts education program that encourages the study of great poetry. More than 250,000 students across the country were expected to participate this year. The Poetry Out Loud National Finals will award a total of $50,000 in scholarships and school stipends, with a $20,000 college scholarship for the National Champion.
  
Visit www.poetryoutloud.org for more information on this national program.

 

 

Student Participants

The twelve students participating in the 2012 Poetry Out Loud state finals were: Bonnie Blanchard (West Valley High School, Yakima); Garrett Lee Gentry (Naches Valley High School, Naches); Sarah Gibbons (Kamiakin High School, Kennewick): Sommer Harris (South Whidbey High School, Langley); Meghan Mulcahy (Olympia High School, Olympia); Dylan Nehrenberg (Kentridge High School, Kent); Zoe Peterson (Squalicum High School, Bellingham); Abigail Ridgeway (Cedar Tree Classical Christian School, Ridgefield); Vanessa Serrano (Camas High School, Camas); Grace Shuman (Annie Wright School, Tacoma); Emma Spencer (Northshore Junior High School, Bothell); Langston Ward (Mead High School, Spokane).

 

Sponsors

Presented by the Washington State Arts Commission, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and The Poetry Foundation. Poetry Out Loud is supported through regional partnerships with Columbia Basin College, Eastern Washington University, Allied Arts of Yakima Valley, Educational Service District 189, and Educational Service District 112.