Poetry Out Loud 2017 -

Poetry Out Loud 2017

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Poetry Out Loud is a local, state, and national recitation contest created by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Foundation and administered in partnership with the State Arts Agencies of all 50 states. This contest encourages the nation’s youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation. Students also master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their literary heritage. Click here for more information.

At Harding all students from grades 7-12 memorize and recite one poem in classroom competitions. Those classroom winners from grades 9-12 then memorize another poem and compete against one another with two recitations. This year ten students from grades 9-12 were judged the best of the best: Kristen Adair, senior; Jocelyn Bringht, freshman; Preston Cates, sophomore; Abigail Curtis, senior; Jadelynne Green, senior; Marquavious Moore, senior; Thomas Rovery, sophomore; Cat Trieu, senior; Kayley Underwood, senior; and Kelly Vinh, sophomore.

The competition

Judges:
Melanie Semore, Upper School Principal
Cara McHugh, former Education and Community Director of Tennessee Shakespeare Company
Kevin Rogers (’05), Director of Theater and Forensics at Bartlett High School
Dr. Bill Srygley, former Bible and speech teacher at Harding

Round 1:
Abigail Curtis “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus
Jadelynne Green “Kin” by Maya Angelou
Thomas Rovery “The Unforgiven” by Russell Edson
Jocelyn Bringht “Cartoon Physics, Part 1 by Nick Flynn
Kristen Adair “The Gaffe” by C. K. Williams
Kayley Underwood “The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Preston Cates “Eating Poetry” by Mark Strand
Marquavious Moore “[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]” by E. E. Cummings
Kelly Vinh “Diameter” by Michelle Y. Burke
Cat Trieu “Part for the Whole” by Robert Francis

Round 2:
Thomas Rovery “The Pilgrim” by John Bunyan
Jocelyn Bringht “Personal” by Tony Hoagland
Abigail Curtis “They are hostile nations” by Margaret Atwood
Cat Trieu “When You are Old” by William Butler Yeats
Jadelynne Green “I sit and sew” by Alice Moore Dunbar Nelson
Kelly Vinh “Personal” by Tony Hoagland
Kayley Underwood “The Author to Her Book” by Anne Bradstreet
Marquavious Moore “Ode to the Hotel Near the Children’s Hospital” by Kevin Young
Preston Cates “Dear Reader” by Rita Mae Reese
Kristen Adair “Cartoon Physics, part 1” by Nick Flynn