First State students interested in spoken word might consider the Poetry Out Loud program.
The Poetry Out Loud state competition is sponsored by the Delaware Division of the Arts with help from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.
It’s part of a national program that encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization, performance, and competition.
Poetry Out Loud's Dr. Traci Currie says poetry accelerates in creative expression with participants in this program benefitting from long-term mentoring on this form of literature.
“Poetry belongs to the people because those who create it and make it are of their, whatever their culture is and whatever their background is, and they play with words and put it out there, and students get to study this.”
Hodgson Vo-tech High junior Maiss Hussein was last year’s Poetry Out Loud Delaware State Champion.
Dr. Traci Currie says the program offers participants a deep dive into material relevant to young people.
“It also focuses on contemporary life. Because they have this online anthology of poems upon poems upon poems that are both contemporary, all the way through the 20th century into the current.”
The program uses poetry to assist schools and students interested in developing their interest in poetry and public speaking skills.
High school students can lead more about Poetry Out Loud at the Delaware Div. of Arts website. Registration is open until October 20th.
Delaware Public Media' s arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from the Delaware 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.
