On December 6, 43 students competed to advance to the next round of the national Poetry Out Loud competition. Every English class participated, with each student memorizing and reciting a poem of their choice from the Poetry Out Loud website. Each class chose two champions who competed against other class champions from the same period.

The English teachers judged the students for physical presence, voice and articulation, dramatic appropriateness, level of difficulty, evidence of understanding, and overall performance and selected two winners per period. The eight winners from December 6 will memorize a second poem and compete against each other to determine the school champion on January 10, 2012.

Listed in bold are the winners of the all-period competition and below them are the class champions by grade:

Justin Dearborn
“Blind Curse”
By Simon J. Ortiz
Ben Icenogle
“Ego”
By Denise Duhamel
Clara O’Rourke
“The Blues Don’t Change”
By Al Young
Olivia Box
“So This Is Nebraska”
By Ted Kooser
Erin Henry
“a song in the front yard”
By Gwendolyn Brooks
Rebecca Smith
“April Love”
By Ernest Dowson
Lauren Malsick
“[I carry your heart with me(I carry it in]”
By E.E. Cummings
Chris Marsh
“Machines”
By Michael Donaghy

Seniors
Olivia Briggs
“Let It Be Forgotten”
By Sara Teasdale
Tom DeNatale
“Alone”
By Edgar Allan Poe
Joey Dussault
“Cabezón”
By Amy Beeder
Rose Gannon
“The Spring”
By Thomas Carew
Danielle Graham
“’Hope’ is the thing with feathers”
By Emily Dickenson
Brittany LaValley
“Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening”
By Robert Frost
Katie MacKenzie
“Caged Bird”
By Maya Angelou
Kaitlin McCarthy
“The Cities Inside Us”
By Alberto Rios
Kyle McCullough
“Keeping Things Whole”
By Mark Strand
Anna Towle
“The End of Science Fiction”
By Lisel Mueller
Joe Walter
“Sea Fever”
By John Masefield

Juniors
Ryan Bunis
“Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”
By Dylan Thomas
Alexa Busser
“Conversation”
By Ai
Caroline Cocossa
“a song in the front yard”
By Gwendolyn Brooks
Emily Crocker
“The Cities Inside Us”
By Alberto Rios
Shannon Doherty-Keelan
“Abandoned Farmhouse”
By Ted Kooser
Devon Flanagan
“These Poems, She Said”
By Robert Bringhurst
David Evans
“Make War, Not Love”
By Joanna Fuchs
Rachel McCarron
“Deliberate”
By Amy Uyematsu
Jon Wolanyk
“A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky”
By Lewis Carroll

Sophomores
Kendall Beals
“The Last Laugh”
By Wilfred Owen
Nathan Carroll
“Fire and Ice”
By Robert Frost
Tyler Mahoney
“Snow Day”
By Billy Collins
Gabe Moore
“For Allen Ginsberg”
By X.J. Kennedy
Maried Murray
“Fire and Ice”
By Robert Frost
Rebecca Waters
“Do Not!”
By Stevie Smith

Freshman
Samantha Boggiano
“Vixen”
By W.S. Merwin
Victoria Gibbs
“Alone”
By Edgar Allan Poe
PJ Kendall
“America”
By Claude McKay
Matt Kondrowski
“Catch a Little Rhyme”
By Eve Merriam
Tara Lynch
“Cabezón”
By Amy Beeder
Jillian Onishi
“After Apple-Picking”
By Robert Frost
Jack Phelps
“The Road Not Taken”
By Robert Frost
Rebecca Roberts
“The Speakers”
By Weldon Kees
Cedric Wirta
“Across the Bay”
By Donald Davie