By Alena Zhang ’18, News Editor 

Every winter, hundreds of young adults across the country participate in a competition called Poetry Out Loud.  Starting their freshman year, NA students spend about a week memorizing a poem in order to recite in front of their English classes. From there, one student from each class advances to a school-wide competition, performing in Kaltenbacher Hall for all to watch. Finally, a panel of judges announces NA’s winner, and that person moves on to a statewide competition.

Created by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, Poetry Out Loud encourages students to learn about poetry through memorization and recitation. The National Endowment for the Arts, which was established by Congress in 1965, is an independent agency of the federal government. Over the past fifty years, the NEA has awarded over $5 billion to support “artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation” across the country. Each statewide winner of POL receives $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, DC to compete for the national championship. In total, $50,000 in awards are awarded at the National Finals each year.

Beyond facilitating a deeper analysis of the text, Poetry Out Loud “helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history and contemporary life.” Of course, there are certain requirements for the poems that students choose to recite, but this process also offers a great amount of freedom. When examining the database of poems on the Poetry Out Loud website, students can find a wide array of poems. For instance, take NA’s winning poem from last year, performed by Valery Tarco ‘16. In a recitation of “Spanglish” by Tato Laviera, she interlaced English and Spanish phrases seamlessly, giving the poem a flow that non-Spanish speakers might have had trouble hearing. Besides embracing bilingual texts, NA students tackle many different forms of poetry, such as free verse, sonnets, and villanelles.

This year, approximately twenty NA students competed; there were participants from all four grades. The judges included Computer Science teacher Mr. Alford, creative writing connoisseur Ms. James, and Humanities teacher Mr. Reed. English teacher Dr. Lankin also served as the accuracy checker. Ms. James, who has judged the competition three times in the past five years, stated that “It’s both excruciating and exhilarating. Excruciating because there are always so many extraordinary performers, but we can only pick one for the regional contest. Exhilarating because the students bring the poems to life with so much heart. Though some of the well-known poems are like old friends, I get to know them in a new way because of the students’ renditions.”

Lauren Dougherty ‘19, who recited Bleeding Heart by Carmen Giménez Smith, said, “It was a beautiful experience to recite in front of my peers. There was one person who I thought stood out the most, but everyone did a really great job.” Ryan Gajarawala ‘18 added his thoughts about the preparation process: “It was tedious, yet fulfilling. Performing and practicing it allowed me to explore and better understand the poetry. My English class gave me a lot of feedback and helped me have a more successful performance.” As a Newark Academy tradition, Poetry Out Loud has allowed our students to experience literature in an entirely new way, and it will continue to do so for many years to come.

The winners of the 2017 Poetry Out Loud Contest were: First Place, Lauren Dougherty ’19; Second Place, Zachary Kessel ’19; Third Place, a tie between Sam Burggraff ’19 and Betsy Zaubler ’17; and Fourth Place, a tie between Andrew Pulver ’20 and Ashley Sun ’18.