Sophomore Kyrah Berthiaume won 3rd place at the Regional Poetry Out Loud competition and will be competing at State on March 12. Berthiaume won the second annual Poetry Out Loud competition on Feb. 4 held in the auditorium.

Poetry Out Loud is a poetry recitation contest in which schools all around the nation participate. Each student selects a poem at poetryoutloud.org, and then memorize and recite it. The school-wide event was organized by English teacher Amethyst Hinton-Sainz.

“Kyrah did fantastic,” Hinton-Sainz said. “She clearly loved the poem she selected and she totally internalized and owned it.”

There were 21 classroom winners who competed in the schoolwide event. First place winner Berthiaume performed “The Children’s Hour” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. In second place was sophomore Timur Karamanov, performing “Golden Retrievals” by Mark Doty. In third place was junior Makoto Hunter, performing “The Minks” by Toi Derricotte.

“The performances this year were even stronger than last year, and the students seemed better prepared,” Hinton-Sainz said. “I think the diversity of the students, as well as the poets and poems made it even better.”

The judges that came to McClintock weren’t your average judges. Salima Keegan was a judge and is the Central Arizona Poetry Out Loud Regional Coordinator. Alaina Adams is the National Board Director. Lauren Kuby is the Tempe City Councilwoman. The final judge was Arizona State Reprsentative, Juan Mendez.

Poetry Out Loud came to the United States in 2005, and is celebrating its 10th anniversary. The Poetry Out Loud program has since grown to millions of entries across the country.

“It takes lots of practice, and it’s a powerful way to understand poetry, and not just read it,” English teacher Amethyst Hinton-Sainz said.

The school winner attends the regionals competition. The regional winner attends the state finals, and ultimately, the state winner goes to nationals. The national contest will be held in Washington D.C., on Apr. 30. All teachers were encouraged to participate and class winners were selected to participate in the school competition.

“During the competition I was very nervous, because there were so many good people,” junior Jada Keyser said.

In order to qualify for regionals, the students must win the school competition by reciting one poem. At the next level, students will perform two, and have a third one prepared in case of a tie-breaker.

“I am really excited about regionals,” Berthiaume said. “I have already started memorizing my new poems.”

The winner of the state contest receives $200 and a free trip to Washington D.C., and the national champion receives $50,000 in awards. Reciting poetry out loud can be intimidating, but it is a valuable skill that helps prepare students for success in the real world.