Winners of this year's WHS Poetry Out Loud competition, from left: Eric Curran (1st Place), Ashley Jordan (2nd Place), and Kayla Coffey (3rd Place).

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Winners of this year's WHS Poetry Out Loud competition, from left: Eric Curran (1st Place), Ashley Jordan (2nd Place), and Kayla Coffey (3rd Place).

Eric Curran Wins Poetry Out Loud Championship

Will Represent WHS at Upcoming State Competition

February 28, 2008by Larry Fangman, WHS Language Arts Instructor

Junior Eric Curran defeated ten other finalists to win the second annual Wahoo High School Poetry Out Loud School Championship. Curran recited the poems, “Discrimination” by Kenneth Rexroth and “Experience” by Ralph Waldo Emerson, to win by twenty points over his nearest competitor.

In Poetry Out Loud, each student recites two poems. Competitors are judged based upon their physical presence, voice and articulation, appropriateness of dramatization, level of difficulty, evidence of understanding, and overall performance. 

Curran will represent Wahoo High School at the state finals, which will be held at the Sheldon Art Gallery in Lincoln (12th and R Street) at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 8. The state winner wins $200 and an expenses paid trip to Washington D.C. for the national finals. The national winner earns a $20,000 college scholarship. 

One hundred Wahoo students participated in Poetry Out Loud this year. Ten students advanced to the finals. Sophomore Ashley Jordan finished second to Curran, while Kayla Coffey finished third. Other finalists were Joe Nabity, Melissa Campbell, Hank Hrdlicka, Khrystal Myers, Melissa Ford, Kyle Willis, and Hillary Fick.