EIGHTEEN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WILL COMPETE IN 2016 POETRY OUT LOUD DELAWARE STATE FINALS
Students from eighteen Delaware high schools will compete in the Poetry Out Loud state finals at the Smyrna Opera House on Tuesday, February 23 at 7 p.m. The event is free and the public is welcome to attend. Paul Weagraff, Director of the Delaware Division of the Arts will greet contestants and give opening remarks. He will be followed by J. Mack Wathen, Chair of Delaware State Arts Council, who will conclude by recognizing the panel of adjudicators.
Each of the eighteen participants will recite three poems that they have selected, studied, and practiced, representing more than 40 different poets including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Langston Hughes, William Ernest Henley, Robert Frost, and Emily Dickinson. The recitations are inspiring, moving, sometimes humorous, and always engaging. The winner will receive $200 and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, DC, to compete in the national championship from May 2-4, where $50,000 in cash prizes and school stipends are awarded.
The 2016 Poetry Out Loud participants are:
Name
School
Tori Baker
Brandywine High School
Phoebe Callard
Cape Henlopen High School
Jessica Pigeon
Caravel Academy
Christian Wills
Concord High School
Brandon Dawson
Middletown High School
Rebecca Pereira
Mount Sophia Academy
Natalie Nwanekwu
Newark Charter Jr./Sr. High School
Shannon Murray
Padua Academy
Hannah Sturgis
Polytech High School
Samuel Ogunwande
Red Lion Christian Academy
Jordan McMillan
Sanford School
Dylan Norman
Seaford High School
Abbey Thompson
St. Elizabeth’s High School
Mollie Russell
St. Mark’s High School
Kana Turley
Tall Oaks Classical School
Jane Krukiel
Ursuline Academy
Samantha Drummond
Wilmington Christian School
Gustavo Silveira
Wilmington Friends School
To learn more about each high school student and their reasons for participating in Poetry Out Loud, please read their biographies here.
The Honorable Nnamdi O. Chukwuocha and Al Mills, the current Delaware Poets Laureate, will serve as the Masters of Ceremonies. Adjudicators include Jim Bourey, Sophia Hanson, Lucas Amillion Mayfield, Maggie Rowe, Marcia Reed, and Jeffrey Santoro. They bring their personal and professional experience as poets, educators, and performing artists to judge the participants on physical presence, voice and articulation, appropriateness of dramatization, level of difficulty, evidence of understanding, overall performance, and accuracy. Delaware State Arts Council member, Tina Betz, will serve as the accuracy judge, ensuring that competitors recite the poems correctly.
About Poetry Out Loud
The Delaware Division of the Arts sponsors the Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest program in Delaware schools and the state finals. Competition begins at the classroom level in the fall and culminates with the state finals each spring. Eighteen schools and over 2,000 Delaware students participated in the Poetry Out Loud program in the current academic year. The Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest competition is presented in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. For more details about the partnership and program, see the program overview here.
About the Delaware Division of the Arts
The Delaware Division of the Arts is an agency of the State of Delaware. Together with its advisory body, the Delaware State Arts Council, the Division administers grants and programs that support arts programming, educate the public, increase awareness of the arts, and integrate the arts into all facets of Delaware life. Funding for Division programs is provided by annual appropriations from the Delaware General Assembly and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. For more information about the Delaware Division of the Arts, visit artsdel.org or call 302-577-8278.
# # #
Contact: Leeann Wallett, Program Officer, Communications and Marketing, 302-577-8280, leeann.wallett@delaware.gov
EIGHTEEN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WILL COMPETE IN 2016 POETRY OUT LOUD DELAWARE STATE FINALS
Students from eighteen Delaware high schools will compete in the Poetry Out Loud state finals at the Smyrna Opera House on Tuesday, February 23 at 7 p.m. The event is free and the public is welcome to attend. Paul Weagraff, Director of the Delaware Division of the Arts will greet contestants and give opening remarks. He will be followed by J. Mack Wathen, Chair of Delaware State Arts Council, who will conclude by recognizing the panel of adjudicators.
Each of the eighteen participants will recite three poems that they have selected, studied, and practiced, representing more than 40 different poets including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Langston Hughes, William Ernest Henley, Robert Frost, and Emily Dickinson. The recitations are inspiring, moving, sometimes humorous, and always engaging. The winner will receive $200 and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, DC, to compete in the national championship from May 2-4, where $50,000 in cash prizes and school stipends are awarded.
The 2016 Poetry Out Loud participants are:
Name
School
Tori Baker
Brandywine High School
Phoebe Callard
Cape Henlopen High School
Jessica Pigeon
Caravel Academy
Christian Wills
Concord High School
Brandon Dawson
Middletown High School
Rebecca Pereira
Mount Sophia Academy
Natalie Nwanekwu
Newark Charter Jr./Sr. High School
Shannon Murray
Padua Academy
Hannah Sturgis
Polytech High School
Samuel Ogunwande
Red Lion Christian Academy
Jordan McMillan
Sanford School
Dylan Norman
Seaford High School
Abbey Thompson
St. Elizabeth’s High School
Mollie Russell
St. Mark’s High School
Kana Turley
Tall Oaks Classical School
Jane Krukiel
Ursuline Academy
Samantha Drummond
Wilmington Christian School
Gustavo Silveira
Wilmington Friends School
To learn more about each high school student and their reasons for participating in Poetry Out Loud, please read their biographies here.
The Honorable Nnamdi O. Chukwuocha and Al Mills, the current Delaware Poets Laureate, will serve as the Masters of Ceremonies. Adjudicators include Jim Bourey, Sophia Hanson, Lucas Amillion Mayfield, Maggie Rowe, Marcia Reed, and Jeffrey Santoro. They bring their personal and professional experience as poets, educators, and performing artists to judge the participants on physical presence, voice and articulation, appropriateness of dramatization, level of difficulty, evidence of understanding, overall performance, and accuracy. Delaware State Arts Council member, Tina Betz, will serve as the accuracy judge, ensuring that competitors recite the poems correctly.
About Poetry Out Loud
The Delaware Division of the Arts sponsors the Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest program in Delaware schools and the state finals. Competition begins at the classroom level in the fall and culminates with the state finals each spring. Eighteen schools and over 2,000 Delaware students participated in the Poetry Out Loud program in the current academic year. The Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest competition is presented in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. For more details about the partnership and program, see the program overview here.
About the Delaware Division of the Arts
The Delaware Division of the Arts is an agency of the State of Delaware. Together with its advisory body, the Delaware State Arts Council, the Division administers grants and programs that support arts programming, educate the public, increase awareness of the arts, and integrate the arts into all facets of Delaware life. Funding for Division programs is provided by annual appropriations from the Delaware General Assembly and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. For more information about the Delaware Division of the Arts, visit artsdel.org or call 302-577-8278.
# # #
Contact: Leeann Wallett, Program Officer, Communications and Marketing, 302-577-8280, leeann.wallett@delaware.gov