Henderson Student Wins Pennsylvania Poetry Competition

	Henderson High School's Francesca Fiore with Governor Edward Rendell at the Poetry Out Loud competition in Harrisburg.

On a blustery March day, poetry softened the edges of the political climate in our state capitol. Thirteen students from across the state converged upon Harrisburg in the hopes of winning the state title for the national Poetry Out Loud competition. After two rounds of readings, Henderson High School’s Francesca Fiore was positioned in the top five contestants. Francesca gave a flawless performance of The Windhover, by Gerard Manley Hopkins to win the state championship and the chance to compete in Washington, D.C. for the national title.

Started in 2006, the Poetry Out Loud competition is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, along with individual state arts agencies. The program encourages young Americans to learn about great poetry through memorization and performance while increasing their public speaking skills and self-confidence. Last year, over 100,000 students participated across the nation.

The competition starts in the classroom with students memorizing and reciting one poem selected from print and online poetry anthologies. For the school finals, students are required to memorize two poems of various style, time period, and voice. At the state level, competitors prepared three poems to be judged by voice inflection, presence, understanding, articulation, gestures, level of difficulty, and overall performance and accuracy.

More than 7,000 students from 13 Pennsylvania school districts began the competition at the classroom level. As the state champion, Francesca will receive $200 from The Poetry Foundation and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. to compete for the national championship in April. The winner of the national championship will receive a $20,000 college scholarship.

 

 

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