Every year, Rolla High School hosts a contest called Poetry Out Loud, where students recite a poem from memory for several judges and compete to advance from a classroom level, to a school-wide level, to regional/state and finally to national level.  Students must choose from poems on the Poetry Out Loud website to recite in front of the judges.

The website poetryoutloud.org says this about the potential prizes in the competition:

“Each winner at the state level receives $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip with an adult chaperone to Washington to compete for the national championship. The state winner’s school receives a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books. The first runner-up in each state receives $100, with $200 for his or her school library. A total of $50,000 in awards and school stipends is awarded annually at the National Finals.”

Not only can students get cash prizes, but their school can receive money in order to improve its library. Not to mention the esteem that comes from being involved in an event about such fine arts would surely be great to put on a resumé or college application.

This year, Junior Bryan Peach was selected as the first place winner for the school.

“Poetry is really meaningful to me. It’s music without the instruments. The authors all have something to say, but to different people their poems can mean totally different things. I think that’s pretty neat,” Peach said.

Peach recited the poem, “Layabout,” by John Brehm, which got him first place.

“You don’t have to be gifted with public speaking, just spend a little time with your poem and you’ll do fine. Anyone who is interested in poetry should definitely give it a try. Find a poem that is interesting to you. It’s much more enjoyable that way,” Peach said.