Poetry Out Loud

Amanda Rosatone, Amanda Moraes

To many the mere idea of reciting a poem in front of an audience is nerve wracking. But others see it as chance to perform and make a piece of writing come alive. Not surprisingly the people who see this competition as more than part of the school curriculum do best in the Poetry Out Loud(POL) competition.

POL is a national recitation contest that is hosted by several high schools in states throughout the nation. According to the official POL website, it was created to “encourage the nation’s youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation.” Malden High School may seem like just another one of the Massachusetts schools who compete, but MHS is very unique in the fact that it requires all students from grades 9 through 12 to participate. Principal Dana Brown shared his feeling about this school wide competition and stated that, “Poetry out Loud can be a good outlet for students.” Brown also stated that POL is one of Malden High School’s “hidden jems” because students who are shy or are not doing so well in school “suddenly blossom.”

Before POL could become a nationwide competition, there were pilot programs held in Washington D.C and Chicago. Due to enormous success, POL was launched in high schools across the nation in the spring of 2006. That first year thousands of students competed and the number of competitors has continued to grow steadily every year since. During the 2010-2011 school year, over 365,000 students competed nationwide.

The process of POL is simple. The competition starts at the classroom level, where each class has one winner. This winner then moves on to the period wide competition where they compete with nine other students. For each period competition there are two winners who move on to the school wide competition. At the state level, each winner receives $200 and an all expenses paid trip to Washington D.C for a chance to win the title of “National Champion.” The school from which the state winner is from receives $500 to use for the sole purpose of buying poetry books to further students’ horizons when it comes to poetry.

While the upperclassmen at MHS have been through the process of POL, to freshmen it is completely new and sometimes intimidating.Freshman Alyssa Figueiredo stated that, “[I] was immediately nervous because [I] had never competed in a contest like this.” Freshman Kasya Jensen, on the other hand, “felt confident” about her performance. She says that POL has helped her “be more dramatic and understand the poem more.”  Although it is natural that some freshman may have had a hard time adapting to the POL contest, many other students also have mixed feelings about this school wide competition. Sophomore Justine Rose stated that, “that POL is really fun.However it does force some people to move out of their comfort zones.” Rose also pointed out the fact that, “POL is a good thing they have us participate in, because its a great opportunity that many of us wouldn’t take if we didn’t have to.”

Senior Eddie Lee who has competed in POL three times says that he enjoys it and that it is “definitely something new that [he doesn’t] usually do and it’s a cool experience each time.” To Lee, POL is something more than a recitation contest. He states that because of POL he has “discovered something about [himself] that [he] never knew…. which is the ability to express [his] emotions so well in poetry.” As a senior, Lee says that he will “not regret the effort [he] put into POL” because to him POL is a “once in a lifetime experience.” Lee won his class competition and moved on to the period two competition. He also was one of the two winners from the period competition along with junior Junior Baez Adorno. Lee says that he is “really nervous” for the school wide competition but he also “can’t wait to see how it pans out.”

Like it has to Lee, POL has benefited everyone at MHS in some way. Teachers get the unique opportunity to teach students about poetry in a completely different way and students are able to gain knowledge from experience. Freshman Meagan Sullivan says that she “liked Poetry Out Loud because it gave [her] a new view on poetry.” Because of POL she has come to appreciate poetry, which is one of ultimate goals of POL along with building self-confidence. Brown states that it is difficult for ELL students to compete in POL because of their limited English but that it is “rewarding” to see their performance in the end. English teacher Jennifer Clapp stated that, “POL is a common activity.” Not only is POL a common activity that gets all students involved, it also gives them a way to, “support each other in a positive way” as Clapp stated. POL also has gives teachers the opportunity to have an intense focus on poetry making it become “alive and real for students.”

POL comes around once a year at MHS and every year students have the opportunity to make poetry become a part of their everyday lives. POL also allows some students to express themselves in ways that they normally would not have the opportunity to. Whether striving for the title of classroom winner or trying to achieve the title of national champion, the POL competition is an opportunity for students  to examine poetry in a different way even if that means that they must push themselves out of their comfort zone.