The first Poetry Out Loud interest meeting was held in English teacher Mr. Mike Miller’s room, room 219, on Monday, Sept. 16 during lunch. 

The meeting was held in a question-and-answer format, with sponsors Miller and librarian Ms. Katrina Oskoui fielding questions from the audience. This audience included both past and new participants to Poetry Out Loud. Miller, who has had his students participate in the competition for the past two years, believes that the competition is a great entry point for students looking to gain public speaking experience.

“It allows the students to become a professor, [or] a political speaker. I think it’s great for developing student voice,” Miller said.

Although the competition used to consist of two rounds, there will only be one school-wide round this year. Additionally, students will only memorize one poem for the school competition as opposed to two poems last year. The regional competition will still require students to memorize two poems.

“The move to one round was to prevent scheduling difficulty. We only need one round to send students to Regionals,” Miller said. 

For people who missed the meeting, there will be another interest meeting on Monday, Oct. 7 in Miller’s room. 

“The sense of the words really give life during poetry,” Oskoui said. “I have always been a big proponent of keeping poetry alive.”