Sacramento County Crowns New Poetry Out Loud Winner
Posted March 6, 2007
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Elk Grove High Student Wins Competition
Kristi Avila, from Elk Grove High School, is the winner of the Sacramento County Poetry Out Loud competition for 2007. The senior took first place in a field of eighteen during the Sacramento County finals, held Friday, March 2, 2007, at Rosemont High School in Sacramento.
Avila will represent Sacramento County in the state finals, March 23, 2007 at the
Secretary of State Theater from 1:00 p.m to 4:00 p.m. The winner of the California competition is eligible to compete in the 2007 Poetry Out Loud National Finals, held in Washington, D.C., on April 30 and May 1, 2007.
State winners will receive $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington to compete for the national championship. The state winner's school will receive a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books. A runner-up in each state will receive $100, with $200 for his or her school library. A total of $50,000 in scholarships and school stipends at the National Finals will be awarded to the winners.
The Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE) is a partner with the California Arts Council in promoting and supporting this poetry contest in the Sacramento region. Other partners for the local competition include: The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the
National Poetry Foundation, California Poets in Schools and the
Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission.
Modeled after the National Spelling Bee, the Poetry Out Loud program began in local high school classrooms, with winners advancing to school-wide, then regional competition. Capital regions across the country are participating in regional playoff competitions.
Poetry Out Loud is part of an effort to bring literary arts to students — a critical need in our schools, according to a 2004 NEA report (Reading At Risk) that found a dramatic decline in literary reading. Through the rhythm of poetry, students can learn the language arts elements of classic literature and the skills of literary analysis. The program seeks to develop student's lifelong appreciation for literature and the arts through this process.
More than 250,000 students nationally will take part in Poetry Out Loud this year.
|
Student |
High School |
Poem |
|---|---|---|
|
Thomas Simpson |
Bella Vista |
If by Rudyard Kipling |
|
Melissa Brokken |
Bradshaw Christian |
Annabel Lee by Edgar Allen Poe |
|
James |
Carson Creek |
We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar |
|
Daniel Harris |
Del Campo |
Dreamers by Siegfried Sassoon |
|
Ashley Gaffney |
Elinor Lincoln Hickey |
Romance by Claude McKay |
|
Kristi Avila |
Elk Grove |
Go Back to May, 1937 by Sharon Olds |
|
Natali Correa |
Galt |
Bilingual/Bilingue by Rhina P. Espaillat |
|
Jordan Sage |
Heritage Peak |
Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll |
|
Eurazmus Forh |
Inderkum |
Old Men Playing Basketball by B.H. Fairchild |
|
Julia Lee-Rittell |
Kennedy |
The White City by Claude McKay |
|
Jeannette Ochoa |
Luther Burbank |
Bilingual/Bilingue by Rhina P. Espaillat |
|
Josh Samaniego |
C.K. McClatchy |
Playing Dead by Andrew Hudgins |
|
Zach Fehrenbacher |
Mesa Verde |
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Dark Night by Dylan Thomas |
|
Heile Gantan |
Monterey Trail |
She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron |
|
Karsyn Davis |
Pleasant Grove |
The Ballad of Birmingham by Dudley Randall |
|
Stephanie Klenner |
Rio Linda |
Bilingual/Bilingue by Rhina P. Espaillat |
|
Rebecca Hartley |
Rosemont |
Fire and Ice by Robert Frost |
|
Devon Carson |
San Juan |
Litany by Billy Collins |
Judges
- Angela J. James, Sacramento Poet and Musician
- D.R. Wagner, UC Davis Professor of Environmental Design, and a published poet
- Ken Huffman, 2006 California Poetry Out Loud Winner, from Elk Grove High School
- Marianne Candela, 2006 California Poetry Out Loud Runner-up, Mesa Verde High
- Sheila Johnson, SCOE Reading/Language Arts Curriculum Specialist
For more information about the Poetry Out Loud program, contact Maureen Gemma: (916) 228-2371, or visit www.poetryoutloud.org.
