The ninth annual Poetry Out Loud competition for Liberty Bell High School and Independent Learning Center students will be at 6 p.m, Wednesday, December 16, 2020 and will be held virtually. Eight students who won their classroom Poetry Out Loud competitions will be reciting two poems each.

WATCH HERE at 6pm.

Admission is by donation: paypal.me/methowarts

For the past eight years, the Methow Valley has sponsored a robust Poetry Out Loud competition through a collaboration between Methow Arts, the Public School Funding Alliance, and the Methow Valley School District.

Poetry Out Loud (POL) is a national memorization and recitation contest that helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history and contemporary life. Each December, local high school students compete for slots at local, regional, and state POL competitions.

And thank you to the generosity of our SPONSORS AND DONORS who have kept the arts alive for so many and supported this project.

Created in 2006 by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, Poetry Out Loud gives students an opportunity to work with recitation coaches such as Thome George and Rod Molzahn, who help students select poems from the anthology of allowed poems, provide them with structure for memorization, and coach them on performance skills such as projection, pacing, emphasis, and movement. If funding allows, the poetry coaches continue to tutor students throughout the duration of the competitions, as long as students are advancing to the next level.

Beginning with Tom Zbyszewski in 2013, five times a Liberty Bell student has won one of two top slots at the regional competition and advanced to the state event; regional winners after Zbyszewski were Liam Daily (2014), Claire Waichler (2015), Lilly Cooley (2016), Mia Stratman (2017), and Mackenzie Woodworth (2018).

The winner of the local competition will advance to the Eastern Washington Regional Poetry Out Loud contest in Spokane, and have a chance to make it to the state championship. The Washington state champion will advance to the Poetry Out Loud National Finals in Washington, D.C.

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DATE: WED, DEC 16, 6pm LOCATION: Virtual. WATCH HERE at 6pm. COST: By donation CONTACT: info@methowartsalliance.org