Times: Greer prepares for national Poetry Out Loud competition

Times Photo by Kevin Lorenzi
• By Katherine Schaeffer kschaeffer@timesonline.com
• March 29, 2016, Beaver County Times
MIDLAND — Greer LeRoy slips effortlessly into character as she begins her recitation of Dorothy Parker’s “Love Song.”
“My own dear love, he is strong and bold, and he cares not what comes after,” the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School sophomore begins, standing up straight and confident, accenting each stanza with a flourish of her hands or a shift in vocal inflection, as if she’s rehearsing a monologue from a play.
The poem is one of a trio she’s recited aloud dozens of times before, memorizing each line and infusing it with dramatic energy — all in preparation for the Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest, which started for LeRoy at a schoolwide competition before winter break.
LeRoy’s painstaking efforts paid off when she won Pennsylvania’s state Poetry Out Loud competition March 7, and she’ll stay with her poems for another month as she prepares for the May 1 to 2 national competition in Washington, D.C.
This year was Lincoln Park’s first year participating in the competition, said English teacher Melissa Potts, who was part of a group of English and theater teachers who organized the school-level contest.
Potts said she heard about Poetry Out Loud at the National Council of Teachers of English Conference a few years ago and thought it would complement the charter’s arts curriculum.
“I look for things that marry academic with the arts,” Potts said.
Potts said she expects LeRoy’s success to pique students’ interest in the competition next year, both at Lincoln Park and throughout Beaver County.
“This will get recognition out there for the whole area,” she said.
This year, 7,000 Pennsylvania high school students competed in the Poetry Out Loud competition, and 14 made it to the state-level competition, said Heather Doughty, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts’ deputy for external affairs.
The event, in its 11th year, was created by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, and is overseen at the state level with help from the state arts agencies of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
The competition is structured like a spelling bee, starting at the classroom level with winning students from each school advancing to regionals, then to state and national competitions, Doughty said.
Poetry Out Loud has a presence at the National Council of Teachers of English Conference, but spreads largely through word of mouth and the enthusiasm of individual teachers, Doughty said.
“That was something we always appreciate, that they embraced this competition and worked with their students,” she said.
That enthusiasm was infectious this year, with 360 students from across the state coming to support their classmates at the state-level contest in Harrisburg, Doughty said.
“It’s an event that our staff in Harrisburg love,” Doughty said. “It’s one of those things where you’re inspired by the students participating.”
Poetry Out Loud requires competitors to pick three poems from a curated list: One must have been written pre-20th century, another must be 25 lines or less and the last poem is up to the student.
LeRoy chose William Butler Yeats’ “The Second Coming” and William Wordsworth’s “The World Is Too Much with Us” for her first two poems, but said picking that third poem was the most difficult part of the competition.
“I wanted something different from the other two,” she said, noting that she scanned the list for something humorous before deciding on Parker’s sassy “Love Song.”
LeRoy said she practices every day, working with voice and speech teacher Desirea Towne on diction and reciting her poems each night.
She said she’s planning to stick to that same routine as she prepares for nationals, mainly because it works. LeRoy said Lincoln Park’s focus on theater arts might give her an edge, too.
“It definitely helps to have acting classes,” she said.
LeRoy says she enjoys poetry and theater but plans to study government and politics in college. For LeRoy, Poetry Out Loud taught her a larger life lesson: the value of taking chances.
“It’s important to take every opportunity I possibly can,” LeRoy said. “I’ve come so far now. This was one small opportunity. It’s opened up so many for me.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]