Napa Students Speak Out with "Poetry Out Loud"
Two area high schools participate in national program that emphasizes language skills, public speaking
Jan. 28, 2011 Napa, Calif.---Napa County high school students are among hundreds across the state working hard to interpret, memorize and recite classical poetry. At stake are college scholarship funds at the state competition level and the national finals of Poetry Out Loud. This annual competition run by the California Arts Council and created by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation engages high-school students in the presentation of poetry through memorization and performance. The Poetry Out Loud program is locally coordinated by Arts Council Napa Valley, a grantee of the California Arts Council.
Participating schools for the 2010-11 countywide competition include American Canyon and New Technology High Schools. The competition includes a judging panel of local educators and artists, including Arts Council Napa Valley Executive Director Kristina Young and Poet Laureate Michael Waterson. The panel will elect the competition winner to represent Napa County in the statewide finals this spring.
"We are thrilled to bring this engaging program to Napa County high schools again this year," said Kristina Young. To see these students interpret the poems is truly inspiring. They breathe life into an art form that is unfortunately practiced very little in our contemporary world."
The Napa County competition will be on Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at New Technology High School, held in their new campus Cyber Café. The competition begins at 6 p.m. Members of the press are invited; please contact Arts Council Napa Valley to RSVP at (707) 257-2117.
Napa County is one of 20 counties to participate statewide in 2010-11. "It is our sixth year for the successful Poetry Out Loud program in California," said Muriel Johnson, Director of the California Arts Council. "Young people interested in rap and slam contests can be surprisingly interested in classical poetry when it's presented through the Poetry Out Loud competition. We've seen students from all backgrounds and academic levels embrace this program wholeheartedly. It can change their lives."
Others also site significant benefits from Poetry Out Loud. "The process of memorizing and sounding a poem is identical to learning to play a piece of music by heart," said Al Young, former California State Poet Laureate. "A student or anyone else who takes the time to commit a particular poem to memory learns much about that particular voice and the nuances of poetry in general."
For more information on the Napa competition on February 9th at New Tech High School and the Poetry Out Loud Program, contact Christy Bors, Programs Assistant at Arts Council Napa Valley. General information can be found at www.cac.ca.gov and www.poetryoutloud.org. Reporters interested in more information about the statewide program may contact California Arts Council communications director Mary Beth Barber at mbarber[at]caartscouncil[dot]com or 916-322-6588.
###
