With Poetry Out Loud returning this year again, there are 42 students who have competed and then moved on to the regional competition. Each winner in the state will receive a reward of $200 and the expenses for the trip to Washington D.C. which will have the national competition.
During Taft’s competition, there is a scoring system which is done by the scoring judges who are using proficiency and skills to analyse the poem of a student. Which include Assistant Principal Fakhira Bukhari, Physical Education teacher and Driver’s Education teacher Shereena Lewis, and English teacher Barbara Lynch.
Lynch mentioned about her commitment as a judge, “It’s such a joy to judge Poetry Out Loud every year. I’m always impressed with the poise and courage displayed by all of the participants. This year was especially hard to pick a winner. Everyone did such a great job!”
Poetry Out Loud Coordinator at Taft, Drama teacher Bryan Wilson, was able to provide information regarding how the starts and how the students progress into a competition. The competition begins at a classroom level with volunteers who are willing to learn and progress with the poem in class, and then with the confidence to proceed to a school level.
Wilson said, “Most of the teachers participating in Poetry Out Loud are part of the English I team at TFA. I do think that it was more challenging for teachers and students this year because of the semester starting mid-January.”
Wilson also added in regards to the event, “Outside of the English I classes, I think only my Creativity & Collaboration (aka Drama I) classes have the full class of students required to present poems as an assignment, while in the English classes for 10th, 11th, and 12th graders, only interested students are presenting.”
“Many of those students had previously participated in the schoolwide competition and are returning for more because they enjoyed the experience,” he continued.
As for the preparation process,Wilson said, “Students select their poems from the PoetryOutLoud.org website, and it’s recommended that they have been working with their poems for multiple weeks before presenting in class.” They must also memorise the poem and practice it.
In regards to the number of students Wilson mentioned, “We had roughly the same number of competitors this year as we did last year, and I thought our hosts for the schoolwide competition, Jacob Weisgram and Cass Richter, did a good job of engaging the audience with information about many of the poets and presenters.”
The winner of the school competition was Evelin Garcia who is a freshman at TFA. She said, “I spent approximately 3 weeks preparing for the in-class competition.” She mentioned that their class of students who participated were encouraged to pick a poem with at least 12 lines. Garcia said, “For each class period, we spent time reviewing our poems and practicing recitation strategies.”
She also mentioned that they were also encouraged to practice the poems among their friends and family in order to enhance their skills better.
In conclusion, this year Poetry Out Loud at Taft turned out to be great, this year with a victory of a freshman student, who is able to get a chance of winning a physical reward. This event continues to be a crucial part of Taft and it grows further as more students become interested in poetry.
