Finalists for the 2019 Poetry Out Loud competition were, from left, sophomores Haley Meduna, Sierra Duckworth, Kris Kochner, Sam DuBois (this year's champion!), Ben Krivanek, and Gage Sherman.

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Finalists for the 2019 Poetry Out Loud competition were, from left, sophomores Haley Meduna, Sierra Duckworth, Kris Kochner, Sam DuBois (this year's champion!), Ben Krivanek, and Gage Sherman.

Sam DuBois wins 2019 WHS Poetry Out Loud competition; advances to Mar. 10 State Finals @ Sheldon Art Gallery

Kris Kochner takes runner-up; Sierra Duckworth finishes third

February 08, 2019

WHS sophomore Sam DuBois used strong recitations of the poems “A Poison Tree” by William Blake, and “Common Dust” by Georgia Douglas Johnson, to win the 2019 WHS Poetry Out Loud Championship! The school competition was held on Thursday, Feb. 7 in the Performance-Learning Center.

DuBois will now compete at the State Finals on Sunday, March 10 at 1:30 p.m. at the Sheldon Art Gallery in Lincoln. The winner of the state competition will win a trip to Washington, D.C. for the national finals on April 30, where over $50,000 dollars in scholarship money will be awarded.

Kris Kochner finished in second place in the Wahoo High School competition, while Sierra Duckworth finished third. Over 100 Wahoo High School students participated in the competition this year, with six students earning spots in the school finals.

Each Wahoo student participating in Poetry Out Loud memorized two poems from poetryoutloud.org. One poem selected had to be written before 1900, while the second poem had to be 25 lines or less. Students are judged on physical presence, voice and articulation, dramatic appropriateness, evidence of understanding, accuracy, and their overall performance.

The judges for the school finals were Lara Celesky, WPS Media Director Dave Privett, WHS School Counselor John Harris, and WHS Language Arts Instructor Larry Fangman.