McNicholas high school’s annual poetry recitation takes student to national contest

Near the beginning of the 2023-24 McNicholas school year, students took part in a poetry recitation competition as a part of their curriculum in English and have an opportunity to go to the state Poetry Out Loud contest to represent the school. McNicholas has sent a representative to compete for the past few years.

In students’ English classes, the teacher has the students pick their poem from the Poetry Out Loud website that meets a line requirement. Students prepare based on the rubric set by the contest organizers that requires students to master a proper poetry recitation.

Some of the requirements are reciting the poem from memory, it must have a certain number of lines, and as the students reciting it, they must be clear and understood, and the judges and audience can hear them.

Over a few weeks, students practiced memorizing their poem to be able to recite it in front of the class. “Its national poetry recitation contest and part of the process of reciting a poem is memorizing it and then being able to recite it in a way that so shows that you understand the pome and you understand the emotion behind the words of the poem,” Mrs. Lara Rupp, English teacher and school POL director, states.

From the class competition, a winner is chosen to compete in the school competition, where a winner is chosen by all the English teachers to represent the school in the larger competitions. Teachers used Poetry Out Loud as a way to help their students understand the poets and poems as they are studying the genre in class.

“You don’t necessarily need to be an actor or actress you just have to be able to convey in the tone of your voice and the way you express the words that you understand the emotion and the meaning of the poem,” Rupp states.

*Rupp and Braid after her win at the state competition.*

As is part of the goals for students, the memorization and recitation of the poem gives an opportunity for public speaking experience. Another way that students can benefit from doing Poetry Out Loud is if they have stage fright, and as they recite their poem, they can benefit by facing their fear.

This year, senior, Amanda Braig repeated her win at the school competition and will compete in the national competition this weekend in Washington D.C. with the support of her parents and Rupp and department chair, Mrs. Angie Noble.