Every year students are presented with the opportunity to compete in the Poetry Out Loud competition. This competition allows students to express themselves through poetry, and in the process of preparing for the competition, they are also able to learn many new skills and open up in a new way. 

They are also told what they will be graded on. The students that decide to participate in the competition are given instructions on what the competition will entail.

“Everyone that signed up memorized a poem that they chose and we went in one by one and recited our poems. We were graded based on accuracy, emotion and performance,” senior Arie Smith said. 

Preparing for the competition is also a good way for students to put themselves out there and learn from their experiences. Senior Kierra Getz was able to overcome her stage fright by doing something that she is passionate about. 

“It’s a great way to really step out of your comfort zone with public speaking,”  Getz said. “I have huge stage fright, so when I get up there, I do get nervous and stuff but I get to overcome that fear by doing something I love, which is poetry.”

Junior Gabriella Evans explains her favorite part about participating in the competition and how she was able to learn through this experience. 

“[My favorite part was] being able to hear other people at the same level of public speaking playing field and getting encouraged by the teachers and the judges that were there,” Evans said. 

There were many methods for the preparation of the competition. Some focused on making sure they had the poem memorized and were using the right oratory skills.

“I stayed up memorizing the poem over and over and over. I recorded myself doing the poem and then listened to what I could change or add in my voice,” Evans said.

During the competition, they are also evaluated on expression. Therefore, students had to find a way to make sure they were expressing themselves well.

“I googled the meaning of the poem and tried to interpret it in my own words and then tried to interpret those feelings when performing the poem,” Getz said. 

The competition grades the competitors based on their accuracy of knowing the poem. Therefore students must memorize the poem and in order to do that, they had to find tactics to make sure they memorize it and in doing so they involved the poem into their everyday life.

“I saved the poem as my lock screen on my phone and I’d look at it as often as possible and recite the lines one by one, just to try to get it fully nailed down,” Smith said. 

Poetry works as a form of expression. The competition is based on how one expresses themselves through the poem. 

 “It lets you express more and in a shorter type of phrasing, and you can use a lot of patterns and rhythms and tell stories,” Evans said.  

Though poetry doesn’t have a strong meaning to everyone, it is also seen as an important aspect for society. 

“I do think that poetry is important in society and writing, and I think it can say a lot,” Smith said. 

Each person expresses themselves differently, and poetry can help people express themselves in a way that most people don’t think about. 

“When I moved here, I would write poems to express how I feel because I didn’t have anyone to talk to, because it was COVID,” Getz said. “But poetry is definitely a way to express feelings, and I think that’s a great way to do it.”