POETRY OUT LOUD Congratulations to juniors Isabella Benrubi and Kyle Pursaud for winning the 2016 Poetry Out Loud competition at The Knox School in St. James. Poetry Out Loud is an annual competition that requires students to recite poems from memory.  All competitions start at the school level and require students to recite two poems. One poem must be 25 lines or more and the other must be a pre-20th century poem of any length. The top two contestants from each registered school then go on to the district competition.

For The Knox School, the top two students go to Stony Brook University to compete with students from other surrounding districts.  At the district level, students are required to memorize a third poem, but the third poem is only required if they make it to the final round. Participating students included Brandon Persaud, Kyle Persaud, Isabella Benrubi, Isai Bala, Daniel Leach, Tess Pruzan, Aric Liu, Tiffany Chu, Mateja Markovic and Annie Kong.

Overall, the Poetry Out Loud competition helps educators bring a love of poetry, and learning through poetry, to the classroom. The Knox School has participated for almost a decade now, helping students develop skills not only in reading, analyzing and reciting poetry but also in public speaking and presentation.

“It takes a lot of courage and skill to recite poetry from memory and the participants of Poetry Out Loud surpassed all of my expectations for this competition,” said Donna Pergola, chair of the English Department. “I am so proud of all of them for overcoming their fear of public speaking and reciting their poems with such poise and charisma.”