17th Annual Poetry Out Loud Competition Draws Crowd

This past Wednesday, Washington-Liberty HS hosted our 17th annual Poetry Out Loud competition. Poetry Out Loud (POL) is a “national arts education program that encourages the study of great poetry by offering free educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition for high school students across the country.”

W-L first piloted of the POL program that how now grown to more than 17,000 schools and organizations in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa. Twelve students, three from each grade level, showed their talent, performing poems to an audience in the W-L HS Library on Wednesday evening. There was a dynamic range of poems selected, from renowned works like those of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, to modern masterpieces from poets such as Joy Harjo.

We would like to extend our gratitude and congratulations to all of our wonderful participants; Afrin Akhtar, Sara Ahmad, Violet Banks, Mariel Barayog, Gillian Doherty, Solomon Galpern, Maya Koenig, Anna Mohanty, Fia Moo, Margot Sellgren, Ronny Tran, and Anika Tripathi. Final congratulations to Anna Mohanty, our first place winner of Poetry Out Loud, who will be representing W-L as she moves forward in the competition!

We would also like to extend a special thank you to all of the staff that made this event possible and the families and friends that come to support the participants.