LOVELOCK - Nine Pershing County High School students took part in the Poetry Out Loud contest in the high school auditorium on Feb. 22. Students were judged on physical presence, voice and articulation, dramatic appropriateness, level of difficulty, evidence of understanding, overall performance and accuracy.
Erika Terry captured first place with her recitals of "Angels" by B.H. Fairchild, "Shiloh A Requiem" by Herman Melville and "Ego" by Denise Duhamel.
Terry will now attend the Nevada Poetry Out Loud competition on March 24 in Reno. This year will be the fourth year she will represent PCHS at the state level. Terry credits her mother reading Robert Frost to her as a little child for her love of poetry.
"Words versus numbers; words win every time," Terry said.
Angellica Cooper won second place for her renditions of "We wear the Mask" by Paul Laurence Dunbar, "Song: Go and Catch a falling Star" by John Donne and "Preludes" by T. S. Eliot.
Cooper said she came into the class late so she only prepared for the competition for a week or two.
"I like words, so poetry is full of words and I love it," Cooper said.
Allyse Lusby took third place with her delivery of "The Arrow and the Song" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "The Tyger" by William Blake and "Eagle Plain" by Robert Francis.
"I have always loved poetry," Lusby said.
She said she has been preparing for the competition for around four weeks.
The other participants were Jameson Shirley, Rebecca Sinor, Savannah Christiansen, Kumiko Widmar, Lindsay Dennler and Brook Harmon.
Poetry Out Loud is presented, in partnership, by the Nevada Arts Council, Nevada Alliance for Arts Education (the Nevada state affiliate of the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education), the Nevada Department of Education, National Endowment for the Arts and The Poetry Foundation. NV Energy is the prime sponsor for this year's Poetry Out Loud contest.
The winner of the state competition will receive $1,000 and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., for the winner and an adult chaperone to participate in the National Poetry Out Loud contest. In addition, the school of the winner will receive $1,000 to support the school's literary programs. The second- and third-place winners at the Nevada State Finals receive $500 each and $500 for their schools.
[[In-content Ad]]
