For 2,600 high school students, poetry is powering up Nevada
Submitted by Carson Now Reader on Tue, 02/19/2013 - 3:53pm
Event Date:
March 16, 2013 - 12:00pm By making the words of great poets literally come to life, more than 2,600 high school students across the state are competing to represent their county at the Eighth Annual Nevada Poetry Out Loud State Finals at Reno’s Whitney Peak Hotel, formerly CommRow, Saturday March 16, noon to 3 p.m.
A program of the Nevada Arts Council, Poetry Out Loud is a distinctive national arts education event that encourages students to learn about, memorize and finally present poetry --out loud. Nevada’s 2013 theme of “Powering Up Poetry,” is a nod to NV Energy, co-sponsor of the event.
At the Nevada finals, the first place winner receives $1,000 and another $1,000 is awarded to the student’s school. Second and third place winners earn $500 each, with a match to their schools. The champion also wins a trip to Washington, D.C., to compete for the national title and for a chance to share $50,000 in prizes and school stipends awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.
The Nevada Poetry Out Loud State Finals are free and the public is encouraged to spend an afternoon at the event. “Though the competition begins in the classroom, it culminates as a main stage performance,” said Susan Boskoff, executive director of the Nevada Arts Council. "I am continually impressed with the poise of the students, as are our review panels and, as you can tell by the applause, so is the audience.”
Starting at the classroom level, teachers are provided with free multimedia curriculum materials – a poetry anthology, audio guide, teachers’ guide, posters and comprehensive website, http://www.poetryoutloud.org, all aligned to national standards – to augment their regular poetry curriculum with poetry recitation and a school-level competition. The student winner and a chaperone from each participating school district receive support to attend the finals in Reno.
The Eighth Annual Nevada Poetry Out Loud State Finals is sponsored by the Nevada Arts Council, NV Energy, Nevada Alliance for Arts Education, National Endowment for the Arts and The Poetry Foundation.
The Nevada Arts Council is the agency charged with ensuring that state and national funds support cultural activity and encourage participation in the arts throughout Nevada. In addition to providing hundreds of grants to arts and community-based organizations, schools, artists and local municipalities throughout the state, the Arts Council coordinates a variety of statewide programs and activities such as traveling exhibits, artist residencies, workshops and cultural assessments.
Finalists named so far include Holleah LeBaron, Lincoln County High School; Graciela Maya-Joseph, Owyhee High School; Breanna Taylor, Carson Valley Middle School (9th grade); Hannah Perazzo, Churchill County High School; and Monica Williams, Desert Pines High School. Semi-final competitions still to come are in Feb. 21 in Storey County, 1 p.m., Virginia City High School Library; Humboldt County, 10 a.m., Lowry High School; Lyon County, 4 p.m., Jeanne Dini Cultural Center and Washoe County, 5:30 p.m., KNPB Channel 5 Community Room.
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