Smith wins PIHS Poetry Out Loud contest
PRESQUE ISLE — Presque Isle High School has announced that Kent Smith was the school champion of the Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest.
The competition, presented in partnership with the Maine Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, is part of a national program that encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization, performance and competition.
At PIHS, students recited works they selected from an anthology of more than 600 classic and contemporary poems. The three judges were Beth Alden, Joe Zubrick and Martha LaPointe. Judges evaluated student performances on criteria including articulation, evidence of understanding, level of difficulty and accuracy.
Kent Smith went on to become a semifinalist at the regional competition Feb. 15 at the Grande Theater in Ellsworth. He recited “Chicago” by Carl Sandburg, “The Death of Allegory” by Billy Collins and “When You Are Old” by William Butler Yeats. This is the first time in four years that PIHS has had a contestant in the semifinals.
Smith did an excellent job representing his school in the competition, said PIHS Principal Donna Lisnik.
For more information, visit www.poetryoutloud.org.
