Students put their poetry recitation skills to the test at the school’s annual Poetry Out Loud competition on Thursday, Dec. 1, during seminar.

There were nine contestants, and the winner was Khadija Ceesay, sophomore, followed by Kelly Linstra, junior, in second place and Alex Dayton, senior, in third place.

Ceesay won last year as a freshman, then won regional to qualify for state. She said that she is very proud and happy that she won again and hopes she can go on to nationals this year.

Ceesay thinks poetry is important because, “It would be nice for kids to be able to interpret the poem their own way.”

According to Ceesay, accuracy, performance and emotion are what it takes to win Poetry Out Loud.

Poetry Out Loud starts at the classroom level, then winners advance to a school-wide competition, then to a regional and state competition, and last go on to nationals.

“Everyone was so encouraging at regionals; it felt like everyone won in a way,” Ceesay said, “Everyone at state was more competitive and was a lot more reserved.”

“I like theater, and in a way Poetry Out Loud is like theater because you’re performing something the way you think it should be performed,” Ceesay said.