Esparto High School student named county champion, continues to statewide competition March 18 and 19 in Sacramento
Woodland, CA— Kendra Luney, a 10th grader at Esparto High School in Yolo County took first place in the 2018 countywide Poetry Out Loud competition on February 13 at the Yolo County Erwin Meier Administration building atrium. Luney will represent Yolo County at the upcoming state finals. Sydney Booth of Holmes Junior High School in Davis received second place at the event.
The California Poetry Out Loud State Finals will be held March 18 and 19 in Sacramento. The first round is scheduled to take place at 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 18, at the Crest Theatre. Round two of the event begins Monday, March 19 at 8:30 a.m., in the Assembly Chambers at the state Capitol. Selected students will compete in a third and final round on the same morning immediately following the second round of the competition.
The winner of the event will move on to represent the Golden State in the national finals, April 23-25 in Washington, D.C.
At the county competition, Luney recited Caged Bird by Maya Angelou; The Star by Anne Taylor, Jane Taylor; and “Hope” Is The Thing With Feathers
by Emily Dickinson.
Beginning in 2005, this year’s state competition will be the 13th production from the California Arts Council. An initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts, Poetry Out Loud encourages high school students to learn about poetry through memorization, performance, and competition. California’s Poetry Out Loud is the largest event of its kind in the U.S., and has grown steadily since its inception. This year’s competition series encompasses 46 counties, 261 schools, and 783 teachers, reaching nearly 73,000 students across the state.
Event details for the 2018 California Poetry Out Loud State Finals can be found at http://arts.ca.gov/initiatives/pol/index.php