Sydney Hammer, winner of the Poetry Out Loud competition here at West Morris, is getting ready to go to the regionals on Monday, February 5th. The competition, a poetry recital contest made specifically for students, provides an exciting opportunity for her to show her artistic abilities. According to the organization’s official website, students in high school (and in some cases, eighth grade) can participate in the competition, usually through events organized by their schools. The website states that “since 2005, Poetry Out Loud has grown to reach more than 4.2 million students.” It is thus a well-known promoter of language arts and poetry. The grand prize for winning the entire competition is a whopping $20,000 dollars. Runner-ups are also fortunately awarded various prizes.
But in West Morris, specifically, only students from Advanced and Honors English in their freshman year were chosen to participate in the competition. Thankfully, Sydney Hammer was part of the group chosen. The competition started with a simple class contest. All advanced/honors students chose and recited a poem. When Sydney eventually emerged victorious in her classroom, she was pitted against the rest of the classroom winners, a total of eight including her. She was judged by Mrs. Heike, Mrs. Johnson, and Dr. Sargent. Sydney emerged victorious through her determination and skill and is now headed to compete with other school-wide winners at the Regionals.
Additionally, in the school competition, Sydney Hammer said she only had to memorize one poem. The regional competition, however, requires her to memorize and recite three poems. In the beginning, she chose a poem called “The Abandoned Farmhouse” by Ted Kooser. According to the Library of Congress, Kooser is a well-renowned author who received multiple awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, for his work. The poem Sydney chose appears to literally describe the scene of a decimated house which belonged to a small family. The speaker makes inferences about the wife, husband and child based on the story which is told by the objects inside the building. Sydney has stated that she chose the poem because of the way it nicely flowed. She also says that she enjoyed and picked it for its deeper meaning, preferring such works over ones which are overwhelmingly joyful. For the regionals, Sydney chose “The American Soldier” by Philip Frenau and “Do Not!” by Stevie Smith. All these poems and their authors can be found on the Poetry Out loud website.
Overall, Sydney has stated that she was quite surprised to be chosen for the regional competition. Despite this, it is almost certainly going to be an interesting and exciting experience for her. Not only is the competition a great opportunity to win some goodies, but it is also an excellent way to practice memorization, public speaking, and, of course, to show off artistic skill. As a final statement, may WMC wish the best of luck to Sydney Hammer as she prepares for the regionals!
