“Poetry Out Loud has a lot of excitement and enthusiasm. Every level is unique,” said Mrs Curran, faculty sponsor of this memorization and recitation contest.

Poetry Out Loud is a competition where students from different schools meet together to further their understanding of the poems by performing them from memory. The competition encourages children to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation and it also helps students increase their public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their literary heritage.

Mrs. Curran said,“This program helps connect students to poetry. Poetry is very overwhelming to students, so I try and bring it up gradually so that the students can become accustomed to it.”

The competition starts at a classroom level, where teachers recommend students to compete in Poetry Out Loud. The chosen students then go to a school-wide competition, then to a regional and/or state competition, and then finally to the National Finals.

Bolles participates in this competition, and many of our competitors get their start in Mrs. Curran’s class. Students perform in McGehee Auditorium, judged by volunteer judges from the English faculty. The judges evaluate the performances through a rubric provided by the Poetry Out Loud organization. Mrs. Curran uses the rubric which ranks, Physical Presence, Voice and Articulation, Dramatic Appropriateness, Evidence of Understanding, and Overall Performance from a 1-6 rank, 1 being weak and 6 being outstanding.

“My favorite judging role is accuracy checker,” said Mrs. Jacobson, “Because you follow along to make sure the student doesn’t miss anything and you really have to pay close attention to the poem and you get to know it better.”

In each of Mrs. Curran’s classes, one student from each period was chosen to compete in the school wide competition, and the winning student, Ria Joglekar (12), went to the state competition in Tampa.

Ria performed three poems at the state competition for Poetry Out Loud. 1) “Epilogue” by Robert Browning 2) “Through a Glass Eye” by Caroline Kaiser 3) “And Soul” by Eavan Boland.

When asked how she chose her poems, Ria said that for “Epilogue”, “I liked the Drama, rhetorical questions, and sass.” For “Through a Glass Eye” Ria said she just clicked on a random poem. For “And Soul” Ria liked it because she created a beautiful image in her mind for the poem.

Ria spent 1 hour each day for two months practicing for the state competition by reciting to different people including her seven year cousin. Joglekar said her total amount of hours spent practicing adds up to around 60-70 hours!

Mrs. Curran’s son, Aidan Curran, (age 11) went to the state competition. He said he was very excited and at the same time a little thirsty. One poem really spoke to Aidan, “It was called the Heart and the Song, maybe? It was about someone shooting an arrow then losing it, then finding it then losing it all over again.”

Aidan hopes to one day perform in Poetry Out Loud. He said, “My mom would want me to perform, and it would be really fun and I really like poetry.”

The Currans thought there were around 50 people watching the competition, which started at 9:00 A.M. and lasted around 3 hours. For the competitors there were no breaks, besides the lunch break and the break given for the judges to finalize their decisions on the winners.

Not only seniors from Bolles compete. All grades are eligible. One freshman, named Ryan Mcdermand, was chosen to compete in the school wide competition for Poetry Out Loud. Ryan performed two poems 1. “Song of Powers”by David Mason 2. “The Star” by Ann & Jane Taylor.

When presenting the poem Ryan explains, “I was a little nervous, but I got my nerves together and presented an amazing poem.”  

Poetry Out Loud is a great program which encourages students to learn more about poetry. Poetry is the spontaneous flow of powerful feelings and most students are incapable of writing poetry. Which it is why it is so great that Mrs. Curran reads a poem to each one of her periods before class begins.

A total of $50,000 in awards is awarded annually at the National Finals. Each state winner receives $200 and an all-expenses paid trip with a chaperone to Washington to compete for national Championship. The state’s winner school receives $500 to spend on poetry books.