LCSD Poetry Out Loud

LCSD Poetry Out Loud

Yerington, NV, February 18, 2020 – Poetry Out Loud is a national arts education program that offers a dynamic recitation competition to high schools across the country. Poetry Out Loud believes their program helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence and learn about literary history and contemporary life.  Since 2005, Poetry Out Loud has grown to reach more than 3.8 million students and 60,000 teachers from 16,000 schools in every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.  In Lyon County School District (LCSD), Yerington High School has been instrumental in bringing this program to students, which is shown by its success year after year.

On February 11, 2020, seven students from LCSD and Yerington High School (YHS) gathered for a school/District competition.  From this Poetry Out Loud competition, Whitey Hegstad – a YHS freshman – took first place, which secures her a spot in the Nevada state competition.  She will be competing in Reno on March 14, 2020 for a chance to be named the state winner, earn a scholarship and a trip to Washington D.C. where she would participate in the national competition. 

The competitors are evaluated by the judges in six areas: Physical Presence, Voice and Articulation, Dramatic Appropriateness, Evidence of Understanding, Overall Performance and Accuracy.  In order to score highly and win, competitors must have a strong stage presence, body language and poise, be clear and project enough to catch the audience’s attention, show appropriate interpretation but be careful not to overshadow the poem itself, must understand and master the poem, they must captivate and on top of all of that, they must make sure to keep the poet’s language intact and accurate. 

If Hegstad is able to charm the judges with her poetry at the state competition and win, she would also be awarded a $200 scholarship and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington D.C. with a chaperone plus $500 would be donated to her school for the purchase of poetry materials.  More scholarships are also awarded at the national level.  Best of luck to Hegstad!

Our vision… Graduate all students to be successful in college and career.

Our Mission… Provide relevant learning opportunities that develop adaptable, persistent and self-directed learners capable of creativity, collaboration, communication, and critical thinking necessary to overcome complex challenges.

Every Student… Every Classroom… Every Day…