Five students from Madera County High Schools competed in the Poetry Out Loud competition on February 3rd at Yosemite High School to an enthusiastic audience. This competition, in its 6th year , is a nationwide event sponsored by the California Arts Council in partnership with the local Madera County Arts Council (MCAC),National Endowment of the Arts ( NEA), California Poets in the Schools, and our local sponsors – Yosemite Bank, Harry Baker of Sierra Tel, and Sierra Rotary.
Each student memorized two poems and was judged on: physical presence, voice and articulation, dramatic appropriateness, level of difficulty, and evidence of understanding.
We want to congratulate all the students for participating in this competition.
There were three winners of the countywide contest. First Place ($200) went to Erica Grant of Yosemite High School, who heads to Sacramento on March 20th, to vie for the State Championship. Second Place ($150) went to Kazia Hart also from Yosemite, and Kara Melissa Grimes of Madera High School, received $100 for third place. Runners up included Amber McFiren of Liberty High School and Drakkar Lewis Bertrand of Chowchilla High School.
The winner of the State competition receives $ 200.00, and then heads to Washington DC to vie for the national title and a $20,000 scholarship.