This year, senior Jordan Knouse, junior Emmaly Plank, and junior Gracyn Shutt participated in the Poetry Out Loud competition. Poetry Out Loud is a national competition where high school students memorize and recite poems at the local, regional, state, and national levels.
Each school may only send one participant on to the regional level; with three participants, Newport had to host an in-house competition to determine Newport’s representative. On Jan. 10, the three Newport competitors performed their poems in front of the judges, teachers Mrs. Christine McLaughlin, Mrs. Angela Stewart, and Mr. Christopher Barner.
For the contest, students must memorize three poems and perform them in front of a panel of judges. The judges evaluate the participants in the areas of physical presence, voice and articulation, evidence of understanding, overall performance, and accurate memorization.
It was a very close competition. The judges needed the students to each recite all three of their poems to determine the winner, and still only five points separated first place from second. Knouse won with a total score of 227, Shutt placed second with 222, and Plank placed third with 212.
As the winner, Knouse will represent Newport at the regional competition on Jan. 31, which will take place at the Landis House in Newport. The winner of this competition will move on to compete at states this Spring. Should Knouse be unable to perform at that competition, second place participant Shutt will fill in for her. This will be Knouse’s second time representing Newport at regionals. Last year, Knouse gave a strong performance at the regional competition but did not advance to states.
“I feel like people don’t realize how important poetry is, so I am honored to get to represent Newport in this competition,” said Knouse. “Last year, I didn’t know what to expect, but this year I am more prepared, so I am feeling more confident.”
