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Congratulations to all 2007 Poetry Out Loud participants! Students, teachers, judges, and parents!

Pictured from Left to right

Back row: Mary Clare Mulhern, Michael Jara, Julia Cavanaugh, Mark Jacobson, Taylor Brady, Nissa Cortes, Indra Ekmanis

Front row: Jonathan Holmes, Chelsea Halstead, Rachel Goldschmid, Jordan McAlpin, Moniza Martinez, Sarah Toller, Brian Nalisa

On March 14, 14 high school students from Flagstaff, Tucson, Sedona, and the Phoenix-Metro area represented their high schools as finalists at the 2007 Poetry Out Loud Arizona finals. 

Over 3,200 students from 14 high schools participated in Arizona’s Poetry Out Loud 2007 recitation, which was made available to high school students in Flagstaff, Tucson, Sedona, and the Metro Phoenix region. 

This years Poetry Out Loud program has nearly tripled in participation with the expansion into Northern Arizona and Tucson.  Now that we have had two successful pilot years with Poetry Out Loud we plan on taking Poetry Out Loud state wide in the 2007-2008 school year.

First prize winner, Mark Jacobson from Arizona School for the Arts, Phoenix, will represent Arizona at the National Finals in Washington D.C. on April 30. Mark will be competing with 50 other state finalists for over $50,000 in school stipends and scholarship money.

Mark recited:

"Hysteria" by Dionisio D. Martinez
"Discrimination" by Kenneth Rexroth

 

 

 

 

 

Second place winner, Brian Nalisa from Catalina Magnet High School in Tucson will receive $100; his school will receive $200 for the purchase of poetry books.

 Brian recited:

"Famous" by Naomi Shihab Nye

"Father" by Edgar Albert Guest

 

 

 

 

Third place winner was Jordan McAlpin from Cactus High School in Peoria.  Cactus High School will receive $150 towards the purchase of poetry books for their school library.

Jordan also represented Arizona in the 2006 National Poetry Out Loud finals.

Jordan recited:

"Hysteria" by Dioniso D. Martinez

"An Introduction to My Anthology" by Marvin Bell

 

 

 

Arizona Poetry Out Loud 2007 Judges

pictured from left to right:

Rebecca Byrkit, Charles Jensen, and Frances Sjoberg

 

 

 

Photo Credits: Joe Jankovski

Download the 2007 Arizona Poetry Out Loud State Finals Program

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more information on Poetry Out Loud visit www.poetryoutloud.org.  

If you would like additional information on the 2006-2007 Poetry Out Loud program, please contact Kim Willey, Arts Learning and Poetry Out Loud Coordinator at kwilley@azarts.gov or 602.771.6521.

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