By: Anna Kate Bailey and Sidney Grace Culwell
Vestavia Hills High School’s annual Poetry Out Loud competition occurred this month! The competition included three possible areas: the National Anthology Recitation, Original Poetry, and Social Challenge Original Poem Competition. Students from each competition area are awarded a chance to compete on the district level, and from there National Anthology participants compete for a chance to be in the state and national competitions. This is Vestavia’s third year participating in the competition.
Competitors in the National Anthology Recitation were:
Blakeley Ferguson, Journey Harrill, Gia Hallman, Sidney Grace Culwell, James Harden, Carie Ella Smith, Ben Levasseur, Sasha Cebanu, Adele Worthington, Bianca Lombo, and Ashlyn Kelley.
Competitors in the Original Poem Competition were:
Ashlyn Kelley, Gia Hallman, James Harden, and Journey Harrill.
Competitors in the Social Challenge Original Poem Competition were:
Ashlyn Kelley, Gia Hallman, and Rezina Moore.
Each student goes to multiple group or private practices where they memorize and perform their poems. It's there that the beginning seeds of friendship are planted. As the weeks continue and students get stronger in their recitations, so, too, do their friendships grow stronger.
From an outside perspective, Poetry Out Loud is just a competition. But from behind the curtains, a family is formed. Students from various grades gather together to offer each other support in their mutual love for poetry, applauding everyone before and after they go on stage and offering words of encouragement. It's less of a competition and more of a showcase. It doesn’t matter who wins, just that everyone has fun and gets to express themselves and their creativity. This year had the biggest turnout yet, in terms of both competitors and audience members. And, hopefully, the following year turns out to be even better!
Winners of each event, advancing to the District Level Competition were as follows:
Sidney Grace Culwell (National Anthology) performing “Now I Pray” by Kathy Engel
James Harden (Original Poem Competition) with original poem “Crumble”
Rezina Moore (Social Challenge Original Poem Competition) with original poem “Divide of Desire”
Honorable mention goes to runners up in the National Anthology Category:
Carrie Ella Smith with “Cartoon Physics, part 1” by Nick Flynn, and Sasha Cebanu performing “Nocturne” by Louise Glück.
And finally, the runner up for the Original Poem Competition was Journey Harrill, with “Yearning.”
Also to recognize the work of the judges, Mrs. Aaron, Mrs. Deerman, Mr. Waguespack, Mr. Woodall, and scorer Mr. Davis, all educators at Vestavia Hills High School, very graciously gave up their evenings to help honor these talented students.
And a special thank you to the reason that Poetry Out Loud has come to Vestavia, Ms. Holly Robinson executed another wonderful night to celebrate the arts!
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