A high school student at Tall Oaks Classical School in Bear is headed to Washington D.C. this week to represent Delaware at the Poetry Out Loud national finals.
15-year-old Sam McGarvey was crowned Delaware’s 2018 Poetry Out Loud State Champion in February.
He emerged from a field of 12 Delaware high school students to earn the title by reciting the poem “I Remember, I Remember” by Thomas Hood.
McGarvey says he’s ready for the national finals Tuesday and Wednesday in D.C.
“There’s a little bit of nervousness mixed in with the excitement. But, overall the thought is, just go in there and do the very best that I can with what I’ve prepared,” said McGarvey.
McGarvey says he has prepared three different poems to read: Beautiful Wreckage by W.D. Ehrhart; Very Large Moth by Craig Arnold and I Remember, I Remember by Thomas Hood. The first two will be read during the semi-finals and Sam will read “I Remember, I Remember” in the finals - if he makes it that far.
State champions will compete throughout the day Tuesday in three semi-final rounds at George Washington University. The top nine competitors will advance to Wednesday’s finals.
Delaware Public Media' s arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from theDelaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.