Roosevelt Student to Represent School at Statewide Poetry Competition

Kelly Stec knows a thing or two (well, really three) about reciting poetry.

For the third year in a row, the senior won the schoolwide Poetry Out Loud contest. She's now headed to the statewide competition on Saturday.

Stec said she practices by reading her chosen poem to herself for meaning and tone quality before practicing in front of her parents.

“They don’t know a lot about poetry,” she said. “If they get it, I know I’m doing OK.”

The competition combines the spoken word with theater. The program is largely promoted at Roosevelt through English classes. Teachers Warren Baker and Rob Keast oversee the program.

Students start by choosing a poem from the Poetry Out Loud website, which has selected a list of poems event organizers deem to be quality with merit. Each poem has a degree of difficulty assigned to it based on length, diction and vocabulary. An audition round is held where Roosevelt English teachers narrow down the list of competitors. Those who make the first cut move on to a schoolwide contest, where the winner advances to the statewide competition.

Judging this year's schoolwide competition were Mike Swiecki, president of the Wyandotte Board of Education; Gail Peterson, retired Roosevelt English teacher and counselor; and John Freeman, an English professor at Oakland University. Roosevelt English teacher Kelly Lomas served as the accuracy judge.

Eight Roosevelt students competed this year. Sophomore Cameron Snyder-Pitts placed second and junior Shelly Scribner took third.

Snyder-Pitts said she has always liked poetry and Poetry Out Loud sounded like a fun thing to do with friends.

“I do get pretty nervous,” she said. “Once I get into the poem, I don’t worry as much.”

Scribner said she heard about the competition through her teachers and wanted to participate because she loves being onstage and she loves poetry.

“You have to become the poem and express it to the judges in the best way you can,” she said.

Both students said they plan to compete again in next year's competition.

Roosevelt hosts several workshops to help participants figure out the tone and attitude of the poem. They also offer one practice session with a microphone and lights in the auditorium. Baker said it is rewarding to see the students grow from the beginning of the process to the end.

“They gain confidence, composure and skill in interpreting poems,” he said. “They are valuable skills and they do develop them.”

Stec credits Keast with encouraging her to get involved with the program, which she has come to love. She said her theater experience has helped numb her nerves, but she gets more excited at the state competition.

“At states, I feel like I need to bring it,” she said.

Stec placed second last year at the state competition and is optimistic about this year.

“I hope I win states," she said. "It would be great to go to nationals. My performance has come a long way since last year.”

Baker said the competition at the state level is getting more intense.

“As schools attend and see what works, they take that back and improve their program,” he said.

Last year, 23 high schools from across Michigan participated in the state championship. The competition, which occurs in Lansing, has grown to 39 high schools this year.

Winner of the state competition will receive $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip with an adult chaperone to Washington, D.C., to compete for the national championship. The winning student’s school will receive a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books.

The national finals are set for April 29 in Washington, D.C., where $50,000 will be given as awards and stipends.

Stec plans on attending Michigan State University after graduation to study oncology. She hopes to keep poetry part of her life in the future as a doctor with patients.

“It’s almost like therapy,” she said.