Today we gathered for a school-wide competition of Poetry Out Loud, an annual tradition at Rice. Each student selects a poem, memorizes it, and recites it in front of their peers. All of our students compete at the classroom level first, the ones who perform the best in the classroom were invited to compete at this next round.
"One of the most powerful benefits of poetry, of all literature, is having the experience of reading the ideas and voice of a person whose identity does not match your own. Poetry should expand our understanding of the world around us and all the people in it." - Mr. Matarazzo, English Department Chair.
It's remarkable to see almost 400 teenagers gathered together for over an hour to listen to poetry - well done!
Today, the finalists presented their poem in front of the whole school and were scored by a panel of judges on accuracy, presence, voice and articulation, dramatic appropriateness, evidence of understanding, and overall performance. The results?
We had more participants than ever, heartfelt congratulations to all our finalists!
Eric Poso
Laural Callan
Celeste Hines
Keira Underwood
Lynden DeBaise
Lucia Bird Matarazzo
Tyler Russo
Hannah Cunningham
Kyle Clougherty
Alessia Gunasti
Wilfred StFrancis
Kenzie Ribera
Elizabeth Cunningham
Marissa Cross
Anthony Neri
Madeline Olsen
Evey Slavik
Taylor Moulton
Giles Heilman
Moorea Lambert
Connor Trombly
View All Photos
A video recording of the event will be available soon.