PORTA's National English Honor Society Recent News

by Will Peters

February 09, 2009

PORTA National English Honor Society (NEHS) is pleased to announce the winners of the school contest for Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest.

The student winners are Champion, senior Katrina Fricke; Runner-Up, senior Tommy Schafer; and Alternate, junior Kara Plowman

The competition, presented in partnership with the Illinois Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Poetry Foundation, is part of a national program that encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization, performance, and competition. On February 3, high school students from PORTA High School participated in the Poetry Out Loud school contest.

Poetry Out Loud uses a pyramid structure. Beginning at the school level, winners participate in a school-wide competition, then advance to regional competition, state competition, and ultimately to the National Finals in Washington, DC.

Students at PORTA High School recited works they selected from an anthology of more than 600 classic and contemporary poems and were evaluated criteria including articulation, evidence of understanding, level of difficulty, and accuracy.

The PORTA High School winner and runner-up advance to the regional contest on in Springfield at the Hoogland Center for the Arts on Wednesday, February 10, 2010 at 4:00 pm. Winners at Springfield go on to the state level where each champion will receive $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, DC, to compete for the national championship, April 26-27, 2010.

Back: Justin Brooks, Ellen Kuhn, Cory Willhite, Michael Paulsmeyer, Nathaniel Ed, Whitney Greger; Middle: Trisha Bagby, Taylor Rossi, Kelsey Tucker, Annie Dirks, Samantha Mundy; Front: Amber Johnson, Tommy Schafer, Katrina Fricke, Kara Plowman, Christina Barbee