Wellington Mepham High School has several unique and fun events throughout the year. One such event Mepham English teachers continue to have their students participate in is the annual Poetry Out Loud Contest.
Poetry Out Loud is through the National Endowment for the Arts that high schools nationwide participate in. This contest aims to improve public speaking skills, build confidence, and teach students about literary history. Besides improving essential skills, this contest is meant to be fun for high school students. This contest allows students to memorize a poem, recite it in front of their classmates, and, if all goes well, go even further than the classroom. This exciting event occurs in our English classrooms once a year and yet again this year.
Back in the first week of December, English students had the chance to recite their chosen poems and perform them for their classmates. Speaking by memorization and speaking with emotion were the requirements to do exceptionally well for this contest, which allowed teachers to pick the students they wanted to go to the next step. Additionally, only a short time after the in-class contest, a handful of students with the best recitations were chosen to advance in the competition.
Mepham’s in-school contest took place on Tuesday, December 17, and every student who participated showed emotion while reciting their chosen poem. As each student stepped up, it was clear how much effort was put into this competition. At the end of the day, Senior AriElla Wolfstein was declared the Mepham winner of Poetry Out Loud, Senior Samantha Bremer came in second place, and Sophomore Asher Chang came in third place. Wolfstein and Bremer will advance to the Nassau County Regional Competition which will be held at the Walt Whitman Birthplace Museum on February 27, 2025 at 6PM. According to advisor Mrs. Maresca, “The competition had some incredibly strong competitors, many of whom have competed at the school and regional level in the past. It is amazing how far this program has come since we started participating roughly seventeen years ago.”
Participating in Poetry Out Loud encourages the students to study poetry and have fun while doing so. The final winner of Poetry Out Loud has not been declared yet, but so far, for Mepham, the annual competition is over, and students put a lot of effort into it. It took a lot of hard work to participate in this contest, and everyone in the schoolwide competition did fantastic work, which shows the effectiveness of this English department endeavor. Great job!