Poetry Out Loud 2022

On Wednesday, January 19 Harding held their annual Poetry Out Loud competition. Carissa Thompson placed 1st, Katie Riedel placed 2nd, and Katie Savage placed 3rd. Carissa will represent Harding in the state competition March 4-5 in the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville, TN.



“Poetry Out Loud™ 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, including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa. The program has helped students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their literary heritage through classical and contemporary poetry. Since the program began in 2005, more than 4.1 million students and 68,000 teachers from 17,000 schools and organizations have participated in Poetry Out Loud.”

Click here for more information about Poetry Out Loud and the Tennessee Arts Commission.

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 we had nine students from grades 9-12 compete in our school Poetry Out Loud competition. They were Claudia-Ruthie Austin, Jillian Heckendorf, Michelle Mihalko, Nina Noble, Morgan Nunnally, Katie Riedel, Katie Savage, Carissa Thompson, and Flynn Wilkes.

The winners:

Pictures from the competition: