Win-win
High-school champions wow with words at the California Poetry Out Loud State Finals
“What???”
Lily Bogas looked stunned as California Arts Council Chair Nashormeh Lindo read her name.
The new state champion of California Poetry Out Loud was in disbelief. As her fellow county champions cheered and gathered around her to offer their congratulations and well wishes, it slowly sunk in. Lily, a high-school junior from Tamalpais High School in Marin County, will be headed to the national finals in Washington, D.C., at the end of April.
“I’ll try to do you guys proud,” she told them when accepting her award.
Poetry Out Loud is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts and The Poetry Foundation, administered statewide by the California Arts Council, that encourages high school students to learn about poetry through memorization, performance, and competition. Participants master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history and contemporary life. The state finals bring together young champions from across California who have already won in their classrooms, schools, and counties.
California’s Poetry Out Loud is the largest event of its kind in the U.S. — and growing. 2019’s competition series encompasses 52 counties, 305 schools, and 730 teachers, reaching nearly 60,600 students statewide.
“In the end being sincere and true to yourself is really what people in the theater — and everywhere — crave to see in a performance.”
— Lily Bogas, California Poetry Out Loud state champion
During the two-day event, Lily vividly recited three works over three rounds: “Megan Married Herself” by Caroline Bird, “Shall earth no more inspire thee” by Emily Brontë and “Diameter” by Michelle Y. Burke.
As a devout drama student, Lily explained the connection she feels between Poetry Out Loud and her love of the theater: “I find this opportunity of poetry recitation a really beautiful practice to just come back to yourself, and speak from your soul, because in the end being sincere and true to yourself is really what people in the theater — and everywhere — crave to see in a performance,” she said.
Penny DellaPelle, a sophomore at San Luis Obispo High School in San Luis Obispo County, was runner-up and will represent California in the national finals in the event Lily is unable to attend. Jackson Dean, a senior at Palm Valley School and repeat Riverside County champion, took third place.
In its 14th year, California’s Poetry Out Loud program introduced a new element in 2019: Poetry Ourselves. Part of the national Poetry Out Loud competition since 2016, this year is the first time California has offered the creative writing contest at the state level. Sonoma County champion Zoya Ahmed, a 16-year-old sophomore from Maria Carrillo High School, took first place for her original poem, “A Concerto of Spice,” capturing her childhood memories through an orchestral arrangement of traditional Indian-Pakistani flavors.
She wowed the crowd with an expressive reading of the piece, and credited her win to the poetic nature of her first language, Urdu.
She wowed the crowd with an expressive reading of the piece, and credited her win to the poetic nature of her first language, Urdu.
Champions Ceiba Cummings of Yreka High School in Siskiyou County and Georgia Schreiner of Villanova Preparatory School in Ventura County tied as runners-up for their original works, “I was Your world” and “Alphabet Soup.”
Congratulations to this year’s winners, and to all the county champions! We’ll be watching proudly as Lily performs at the nationals next month — and waiting patiently for Zoya’s next composition.
For more photos and videos from the final event and details about California Poetry Out Loud, visit capoetryoutloud.org.
