Kensal school student advances to state poetry contest in April

Kensal announced the winners of the school contest for Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest. The student winners are Krystina Smith, first; Chris Kotzer, second, and Kayla Sabinash, third.

Smith will advance to the North Dakota State Finals contest on Feb. 26 at the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck. Each champion at the state level will receive $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to compete for the national championship from April 28-29.

The competition, presented in partnership with the North Dakota Council on the Arts, 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. On Jan. 11, Kensal High School participated in the Poetry Out Loud school contest at Kensal High School.

Poetry Out Loud is a national arts education program that encourages the study of poetry by offering educational materials and a recitation competition to high schools across the country. Poetry Out Loud uses a pyramid structure. Beginning at the classroom level, winners advance to a school-wide competition, then to the North Dakota State Finals competition, and ultimately to the national finals in Washington, D.C. More than 150,000 students across the country are expected to take part in Poetry Out Loud this year.

At Kensal, students recited works they selected from an anthology of nearly 500 classic and contemporary poems. Judges evaluated student performances on criteria including articulation, evidence of understanding, level of difficulty and accuracy. The NEA and the Poetry Foundation created a standards-based teacher’s guide, a Web site and a CD featuring poetry recitations by actors and writers such as Anthony Hopkins, Alyssa Milano and Rita Dove.

To learn more about the contest, contact Linda Ehreth at lehreth@nd.gov or visit www. poetryoutloud.org.

Tags: poetry, kensal