BRIARCLIFF MANOR — Teenagers can laugh out loud, think out loud and express opinions out loud, but it takes a certain type of student to be able to recite poetry out loud. Three Briarcliff High School students will do just that when they compete at the regional level in the Poetry Out Loud competition, which will be held at Fox Lane High School on February 13. Maddy Albert, Jordana Kaltner, and Lexy Praeger won their school division POL competition and will move on to represent BHS next month.
Supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, Poetry Out Loud is a contest that encourages the nation's youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation.
Students must memorize and recite a poem from a prescribed list, helping them master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their literary heritage. Winners of the regional competition will move on to compete at the state level.
Each winner at the state level will receive $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, DC, to compete in the national finals. The state winner's school will receive a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books.
Poetry Out Loud was launched in high schools nationwide in the spring of 2006 and had more than 365,000 students competing last year.
