Senior Harliana Otto’s recitation of poet Jimmy Santiago Baca’s “I Am Offering this Poem” was selected as #1 by judges Maguire, Wallach, and Wendt-West at the December 9 all-Upper-School assembly. Junior Indiana Behr’s recitation of George Meredith’s “Dirge in Woods” came in second. Sophomore Kristina Panagiotaros’s recitation of Mariana Llanos’s “Invisible Children” took third. Sophomore Mirabelle Lee’s stunning entry of Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise” won over the room and earned her Audience Favorite.
In the December 6 Middle-School competition, three overall winners were selected by judges Griffin, Wallach, and Wendt-West: Walker Craven (8th), for his recitation of Richard Wilbur’s “A Barred Owl”; Lia Maldonado (8th), for her recitation of Robert Longley’s “Each Day”; and Roman Soobben (7th), for his recitation of “Siren Song” by Margaret Atwood. Roman won over the room and also walked with Audience Favorite.
As our school winner in the Upper School, Harli will advance to Riverside County’s Poetry Out Loud competition to vie for a seat at the state competition. At county, she will again recite Baca’s “I Am Offering this Poem” and will need to select a second poem, as the county competition has two rounds of recitation. Second-place Indy will serve as our alternate.
The other Upper-School finalists include Sophomore Lily Jones, Senior Ike Spry, Freshman Kayliee Augustine-Sails, Freshman Donavan Knott, Freshman Gabriella Rodriguez-Portugues, Junior Gil Maruvada, Junior Arsh Rehman, and Junior Luke Sonderman.
The classroom winners and Middle-School finalists also include Lorelei Behr (6th), Yola Belickis (7th), Riley Conway (8th), Caleb Kassinove (8th), Mateo Omier (6th), Jackie Padgett (7th), Louisa Richardson (8th), and Addison Uhlhorn (6th).
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