Poetry Through the Halls

Chariho’s 4th Annual Poetry Out Loud competition was the place to hear six student speakers recite poems by a variety of different authors and styles on the first of February. The event took place in the Chariho chorus room. Each participant chose two poems and worked on the recitation before finally presenting it. They had been practicing since October with humanities specialist Mrs. Hall. She was overwhelmingly proud of their progress and the end result.

The contestants performed one poem at a time in front of family, friends, and a panel of judges consisting of teachers, principal Mr. MacKenzie, and assistant principal Ms. Spas before being graded on their performances. Laila DeMartino went first, followed by Laura Donnelly, Jessica LaFreniere, Jasmine Lerner, Avery Moody, and Dalton Stone. All of the participants masterfully recounted their poems with power and finesse.

When asked about the competition, Mrs. Hall talked about the reason why the students did so well with the poems they chose. “Sometimes we look at these students on stage and say, ‘oh, they’re so talented,’ but talent is only part of it, it’s the hard work.” The amount of time each participant put into the poems was evident in the end result.

After all the poets had performed, their scores were tabulated and then the top two places were announced. Jasmine Lerner took the victory for her performance of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “The Charge of the Light Brigade” and Vijay Seshadri’s “Bright Copper Kettles.” Lerner will move onto the state competition on Sunday, March 3 at RISD and received a gift card. Avery Moody, winner of this year’s Shakespeare competition, took the runner-up position for his recitations of “Early Elegy: Headmistress” by Claudia Emerson and “It Isn’t Me” by James Jasdun. If Lerner is unable to perform in the state competition, Moody will perform instead.