Just before winter break on December 19th, students and judges gathered in C120 for the annual school Poetry Out Loud competition.​

Poetry Out Loud, RV’s spoken word competition, is a competition occurring shortly before winter break. The students prepare two poems each and practice during the weeks leading up to the event to refine the performances of the poems. The winner of the competition will advance, performing at the regional competition at Rutgers-Camden.​

This year, four students competed: Belquis Karimi, Shreya Darji, Leigha Sexton, and McKenzie Baldwin. A warm congratulations goes out to Belquis Karimi, who won the competition and is now advancing to regionals.  ​

And as one of the students who competed, I want to share my perspective on the club. When I first joined, I saw it as a way to perform poetry and then get to expand my horizons in the competition.

​What I found was more than that. In my two years doing Poetry Out Loud, I’ve found a warm and welcoming community through practice sessions: rehearsing, repeating, and tweaking our performances while laughing or talking with one another. It makes me regret not joining sooner. While we are a small group, it’s a very rewarding experience to be able to get out of your comfort zone and perform poetry (I never thought I would have said “passeth” in public, but here I am!). The club advances your public speaking skills and your ability to analyze poetry to understand how to perform it well through your tone and body language.

​So, if you’ve ever had any inkling of love for poetry, I’d highly recommend joining Poetry Out Loud.