After a four year hiatus, English II teacher Kim Vidrine revives Poetry Out Loud, a nation-wide recitation competition. This year, only one sophomore, Emma Tapia, chose to compete. 

This competition has grown tremendously since 2005, reaching over 4.1 million students from 17,000 schools, according to the Poetry Out Loud official website. The last competition for Timberwolves was in 2018 and led by former teacher, Jenna Opperman, who had 12 students compete. 

The competition consisted of contestants selecting and memorizing a poem from a given list and reciting it in front of a group of three teachers, Colman and AP English teacher Michelle Iskra. The only competitor, Tapia, recited “Acquainted with the Night,” by Robert Frost for this competition.

“I chose this poem because I thought the idea of wandering a place at night was something I was familiar with,” Tapia said. “At times, I find myself wandering my sleeping home to be in the stillness of the night and obtain a sense of ease.”

Tapia said she found it quite easy to memorize the poem itself, but also found it slightly difficult to deliver it.

“I didn’t find it unusually hard to memorize it because of how I was able to connect with the poem,” Tapia said. “I myself don’t always enjoy public speaking, so signing up for this really helped with gaining confidence and practice in public speaking.”

Tapia reflected on her performance at the competition, sharing her thoughts about what she thought she could have done better as well as her pre-competition jitters.

“I felt excited and nervous going into it,” Tapia said. “But afterwards, I enjoyed having to go through the process of picking out a poem and being able to share it with a group of people that wanted to hear it. I think what I could do better next time is being able to present with more confidence.”

Vidrine said she wanted to continue the poetry competition to encourage students to take risks as well as express their value of literature to compete. Despite that, only three people signed up, and only Tapia competed.

“Originally three students signed up. I was hoping for many more,” Vidrine said. “But, as this is the first year to try to re-start the program after a four-year hiatus, it’s fine that we started small.”

Vidrine also wanted the students to demonstrate taking risks and expressing their value of literature. 

“It’s a great way to push yourself, demonstrate risk-taking, impress your teachers, and give yourself a reason to memorize a poem,” Vidrine said. “Poetry Out Loud is a perfect opportunity for risk-takers to show what they’re made of.”

During the poetry competition during 2018, Vidrine was a judge, and reflected on the memorable event, expressing her awe of the twelve students who competed. 

“They were very committed to the poems they’d chosen and that was clear in their recitation,” Vidrine said. “People are impressed when you can recite a poem from memory. And once you memorize a poem, those words stay with you forever.”