On Tuesday, January 5, Hackley students gathered in the chapel to compete in the annual Poetry Out Loud Competition. Students, ranging from freshman to seniors, took turns reciting two memorized poems in order to advance to the regional competitions. The judges scored each performance based on six categories: physical presence, voice and articulation, dramatic appropriateness, evidence of understanding, accuracy, and overall performance. Sophomore Delia Tager stunned the judges, making her the first place recipient.

Since third grade, Delia has always had a love for poetry. It gave her the opportunity to express her freedom and emotion. She enjoys how “poetry is different. It’s more free… it is easier to interpret,” she said. She relishes the fact that poetry can have multiple interpretations and have deeper meanings expressed through a few words.

In addition to her love of poetry, Delia enjoys theater. Poetry Out Loud was an opportunity to try “something new, something [she hasn’t] done before,” Delia said.

“I thought that this was a very cool thing to get back on stage,” she said. After this experience, Delia describes poetry as the art of storytelling, specifically sharing other people’s views, and now highly recommends her peers to compete in future Poetry Out Loud competitions.

Similar to Delia, Izzy Ampil also had a positive experience. She participated in this year’s Poetry Out Loud competition because she wanted to meet “amazing people who are also creative and really welcoming,” Izzy said. “I get to hear them recite poetry in new ways and so I get to understand more about poetry,” thus not only growing her perspectives, but also her passion.

Izzy sees Poetry Out Loud as an opportunity to not only connect with poetry, but reach new levels of understanding different messages. “I think that hearing poetry…[exposes] you to all kinds of movements of poetry and the new rich language and understand more about … different perspectives and seeing the world,” said Izzy. After the competition at Hackley, Izzy felt accomplished because she learned different interpretations to poems she already knew and helped other Hackley students grow as a performer.

“When you hear language spoken out loud, sometimes it changes your experience about that… I think poetry sometimes intimidates students, but when students hear a poem, they tend to be less intimidated… So [Poetry Out Loud], I think is a way into poetry,” said English teacher, Mrs. Butterfield.

Through Poetry Out Loud, Hackley is not only able to inspire students to develop a passion for poetry and public speaking, but also motivate students to engage with literature outside the classroom environment.