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Kate Dunigan AtLee, a librarian at Sturgis Charter Public School, and Thea Goldman, a freshman at Sturgis East and finalist in the Poetry Out Loud competition.
HYANNIS – Thea Goldman was one of the younger finalists at the Poetry Out Loud state finals in Boston earlier this month. But as a freshman at Sturgis East Charter Public School, she has a mature take on reading poetry. For a competition that focuses on the art of recitation, she chose poems that spoke to her because of their meaning, humor or style.
The Brewster teen likes to act in plays at school and brings a dramatic inflection to her recitations of poems.
The Poetry Out Loud competition at Sturgis begins with a contest in the classroom then those winners go to a school-wide competition. Thea won those first two contests to go on to a regional semi-finals competition that took place at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod in Yarmouth on March 1.
Of the 18 regional semi-finalists who competed, six students, including Thea, went on to the Massachusetts State Poetry Out Loud Finals in Boston on March 8.
Thea’s three poems that she prepared for the competition were “Cartoon Physics, Part 1” by Nick Flynn; “Ecology” by Jack Collom; and “The Maldive Shark” by Herman Melville.
More than 20,000 students throughout the state participated in Poetry Out Loud this year. The winner of the finals Monument Mountain Regional High School student Caroline Sprague will compete in the National Finals April 28 to 29 at George Washington University. The winner of the National Finals will receive a $20,000 award and their high school will receive a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books.
Thea Goldman reciting a poem for Poetry Out Loud.
According to information from Poetry Out Loud, the purpose of the program is “to encourage the study of great poetry by offering educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition to high school students across the country. Poetry Out Loud gives students an opportunity to master public speaking skills, build self-confidence and learn about their literary heritage. Now in its ninth year of national competition, Poetry Out Loud has inspired millions of high school students to discover classic and contemporary poetry.”
Listen below as Sturgis East Charter Public School freshman Thea Goldman from Brewster discusses the Poetry Out Loud competition with Kate Dunigan AtLee, who is a librarian at Sturgis Charter Public School. Thea also recites the three poems she chose for the Poetry Out Loud competition from memory.
