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- March 5, 2010
MHS Eleventh Grader Named State Poetry Champion
Middletown High School 11th grader Alex Cummiskey was just selected as the winner of Delaware's Poetry Out Loud contest. He will now go on to compete as Delaware's representative to the Poetry-Out Loud National Finals on April 26-27 in Washington, D.C.
We're proud of Alex, his predecessor (Tonisha Jones, a 2-time winner from MHS), and MHS Performing Arts teacher Ms. Amanda Chas who plays a big part in encouraging talented students to participate, cultivating their natural ability, and preparing them for the contest. This year's win represents a "three-peat" for the high school. They have produced the winning contestant for the last three years.
The contest is sponsored by the Delaware Division of the Arts and the Delaware State Arts Council. As a prize, Alex received a $200 cash award from those groups and now has a chance to win a $20,000 scholarship prize if successful in Washington. Ms. Chas also receives a prize payment for MHS which will be used to purchase poetry books for the school library.
Finally, the Poetry Out Loud trophy, given to the school last year in honor of Tonisha Jones (2009 Delaware state winner), will reside at MHS where it is proudly displayed for another year---this time with Alex's name engraved on it.
Keep your fingers crossed for Alex as he travels to Washington to compete next month. You may even want to consider inviting him to do a reading for the students in your school and organization.
BACKGROUND ON THE PROGRAM
From the Delaware Division of the Arts web posting.
Poetry Out Loud is a fun, participatory way to teach poetry and meet Delaware's English Language Arts requirements. Free, standards-based curriculum materials are available for all participating schools. Participating schools also have the opportunity to work with teaching artists who give workshops on poetry recitation for students.
Who created Poetry Out Loud?
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Poetry Foundation created Poetry Out Loud. At the state level in Delaware, the Delaware Division of the Arts will coordinate the distribution of school participation materials and the state finals event.
Why was Poetry Out Loud created?
In the recent "Reading at Risk" survey, the National Endowment for the Arts documented an increasing rate of decline in literary reading, especially among younger readers. To encourage the nation’s youth to learn about great poetry, the NEA and the Poetry Foundation are jointly supporting Poetry Out Loud.
Poetry Out Loud builds on the recent resurgence of poetry as an oral art form, as demonstrated by the slam poetry movement and the immense popularity of rap music among our youth. By performing great works of literature, students can master public-speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn more about their cultural heritage by inviting the dynamic aspects of slam poetry, spoken word, and theater into the English class.
Where will Poetry Out Loud take place?
Poetry Out Loud will take place in high schools in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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