By Katelyn Berdine
After competing in their English classes before Thanksgiving Break, classroom winners participated in Weir’s schoolwide Poetry Out Loud contest during block one on December 14, 2024 for a chance to go to the state championship in Charleston in March.
POL first started as a classroom competition that took place before Thanksgiving break in the English classes. Each class came out with a winner. They then took some time out of first block for the student to compete again. This time for the chance to compete in the state championship, which will take place in Charleston sometime during March.
The POL competition has been going on at Weir for many years now, with last year’s winner being Tanner Finsley. This year’s poetry out loud competition has had many reappearances from last year’s competition.
In previous years, the competition took place in the evening, with English teachers being the judges. Since Betty Smith-Montgomery, English and ASL teacher, has taken over organizing this event she has enlisted principals and retired Weir High teachers as the judges, and the students compete during the school day to allow more students to participate.
The poems the students would be reciting did come with a few requirements. They had to be 25 lines or fewer and pre-20th century. They had to be on the POL website or print anthology.
As the competition approached, competitors prepared in different ways. Some just kept reading to memorize while others had other methods for remembering the words like studying the poem and its meaning.
“I am reciting the poem many times and coming up with ways to remember the poem (ex. hand motions and such),” said freshmen Jayme Utt who recited “All Hallows Eve” by Dorothea Tannaning and “If I Had Known” by Alice Moore Dunbar Nelson.
“I have practiced endlessly, reading relentlessly, but the job is NOT finished,” said freshmen Evan Kaczmarek who recited “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost and “If I Had Known” by Alice Moore Dunbar Nelson.
The students stood upon the stage in the theater and recited their poems in front of fellow peers, teachers, and judges who were former teachers at Weir.
“Ms. Kelly Lawton, Mrs. Harriet Mastromichalis, Mr. Dwight McUmar, and Mrs. Elaine High-Kimmins are the judges of the competition pieces. Weir High English teachers will each play a role such as emcee, scorer, accuracy judge, and prompter.” said Smith-Montgomery.
When Weir’s POL contest ended, with only one winner, Sophomore Sienna Finsley took the victory and will move on to the state championship in March. She recited the poems “Bereavement” by William Lisle Bowles and “Epitaph” by Katherine Philips.
Runner up was freshmen Landon Donaldson and recited “Catch a Little Rhyme” by Eve Merriam and “Hope’ is the Thing with Feathers” by Emily Dickinson. Third place was sophomore Gracie Beagle and she recited “Break, Break, Break” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson and “Love’s Philosophy” by Percy Bysshe Shelley. If Sienna continues and wins states, she will go to national championship in Washington D.C. in April.
“I thought I had a heart attack but in a really good way,” said sophomore Sienna Finsley about winning POL.
