Senior Brook Salsman took second place and senior Jordan Fenwick took third place.
The competition included 22 performances by students who spent months memorizing and preparing to perform poems selected as part of the national Poetry Out Loud competition. Poetry Out Loud is a national poetry recitation competition created by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. The grant program is administered in partnerships with state arts agencies, and the Kentucky Arts Council partnered with the NEA to administer grants in Kentucky.
After the Kentucky Arts Council awarded McCracken County Public Schools a Poetry Out Loud grant, the council provided funds for Paducah-based poet and performer Samuel “Snacks” Hawkins to instruct students at MCHS. Hawkins helped them analyze poem structure and practice performingpoems in front of an audience.
Stimson will travel to Frankfort to compete in the state-level competition on February 19 at the Grand Theatre. The state champion will go on to the national competition in Washington, D.C., and vie for a $20,000 scholarship.
