Lawrence High School principal Jon Dauber, second runner-up Hayley Gronenthal, champion Natasha Vargas, first runner-up Zora Holness and English teacher Kathryn Henderson pose after the school’s Poetry Out Loud competition on Jan. 17.
A Lawrence High School senior has advanced to the New Jersey Poetry Out Loud state finals.
Natasha Vargas earned one of two top spots at a regional competition in Red Bank on Feb. 11. She is the second student in LHS history to advance to the state finals.
This year, 28,618 students at 148 high schools across the state took part in the Poetry Out Loud program. One state finalist will advance to the national competition in Washington, D.C.
The competition is part of a national program that encourages high school students to learn about poetry through memorization, performance and competition.
Vargas qualified for the regional competition by winning the LHS school-wide contest on Jan. 17.
At the LHS competition, 16 student finalists representing about 800 school participants recited works they selected from an anthology of more than 600 classic and contemporary poems. Judges evaluated student performances on criteria including articulation, evidence of understanding, level of difficulty, and accuracy.
Teachers introduced poetry recitation in the classroom using materials created by National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, which both support POL.
Vargas, a school finalist for four years, earned her first championship with her recitation of Jack Collum’s “Ecology” and Charles Lamb’s “Thoughtless Cruelty.”
Junior Zora Holness was the first runner up and senior Hayley Gronenthal was the second runner up. Principal Jonathan Dauber presented the winners with certificates, prizes and a perpetual trophy.
The Poetry Out Loud program is in its ninth year, and LHS has participated in the program for five years. Kaitlyn Quis (class of 2012) earned a spot at the state competition in 2011.
The state finals are scheduled for March 14 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark.
More information is online at poetryoutloud.org.
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