SHS Junior Hailey Brown Wins Poetry Out Loud Recitation Contest to Represent School at Regional

December 10, 2013

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Seward High Junior, Hailey Brown, captured the local Poetry Out Loud poetry recitation contest First Place award reciting from memory the poem More Lies by Karin Gottshall.  She won over 32 other students to now represent SHS at the state regional contest in February in Kearney at the Museum of Art.  The first runner-up in the contest was Emma Orwen with The More Loving One by W.H. Auden, Second Runner-Up was a tie between Sophomores Josh Hendrickson presenting  Sea Fever by John Masefield and Ben Galusha with Break, Break, Break by Alfred Lord Tennyson.  First place in the Freshmen entries was Levi Dybdal presenting Catch A Little Rhyme by Eve Merriam, First Place in Sophomores was Josh Behlen presenting The Heaven of Animals by James L. Dickey, First Place of the Juniors was Kayleah Moravec with the poem My Papa’s Walz by Franklin Roethke, and First Place for Seniors was Siana Dyell with the poem Domestic Situation by Ernest Hilbert.  The contest was held at the SHS new theater on Monday evening, December 9 at 7:00 pm and was sponsored locally by the Seward Arts Council.  The winners all received engraved medals and blue and gold neck ribbons.  First, second and the tie for third place winners each received a cash award also sponsored by the local Seward Arts Council. 

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The students each selected their own poem to memorize from the 600 offered on the website of Poetry Out Loud.  The contest is sponsored and funded by the National Poetry Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts on the national level and the Nebraska Arts Council on the state level.  Locally, Clark Kolterman serves as the coordinator and teacher sponsor for the event.  Actress and author, Pippa  White of the Nebraska Arts Council was the visiting artist for the Seward Schools to assist and prepare the students for the contest.

The students memorize their poem and must present it to the audience using a microphone and a spot light.  Local judges for the event included Nancy Schulz of East Butler, who served as the accuracy judge. Other judges included Katie Wright of Crete High School, and Concordia University students Stephanie Shearer from Arapahoe, NE, Marol Feickert from Lawrenceville, New Jersey and Ben Hinckfoot of Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Students competing in the program included……….

1. Kyler Nolan   Israfel   Edgar Allan Poe
2. Makenzie   Hemphill Lucinda Matlock   Edgar Lee Masters
3. Peyton R. Schmidt   Ozymandias   Percy B. Shelly
4. Alyssa Winterfeld   The Albatross   Kate Bass
5. Siana M. Dyell   Domestic Situation    Ernest Hilbert
6. Nicole Canning   The Star   Jane & Ann Taylor
7. Kyle Glandt   Hunger Moon   Jane Cooper
8. Evan Marshall-At the Vietnam Memorial  George Bilgere
9. Sarah Frisbie   Fire and Ice   Robert Frost
10. 0.  Chris Urkoski   The Heavenly City   Stevie Smith
11. 1.  Will Helmer   Battle-Hymn of the Republic   Julia Ward Howe
12. 2.  Joshua Behlen   The Heaven of Animals   James L. Dickey
13. 3.  Amanda Marcov   Fire and Ice   Robert Frost
14. 4.  Ben Galusha   Break, Break, Break   Alfred Lord
15. 5.  Adam Schmersal   The Daring One   Edwin Markham
16. 6.  Josh Hendrickson   Sea Fever   John Masefield
17. 7.  Courtney Meyer   The Star   Jane & Ann Taylor
18. 8.  Autumn Hallberg   Flirtation   Rita Dowe
19. 9.  Autumn Kuhlman   Alone   Edgar Allen Poe
20. 0.  Alyssa Ahrens   Fire and Ice   Robert Frost
21. 1.  Tom Rolfsmeyer   Listening   Jean Valentine
22. 2.  Noah Urkoski   Catch a Little Rhyme   Eve Merriam
23. 3.  Bryson Schluckebier   Analysis of Baseball   May Swenson
24. 4.  Joanna Sierra   Time Does Not Bring Relief-You All Have Lied   Edna St. Vincent Millay
25. 5.  Peyton Owens   Across the Bay   Donald Davie
26. 6.  Kaylee Schmutte   Baudelaire   Delmore Schwartz
27. 7.  Kayleah Moravec   My Papa’s Waltz   Franklin Roethke
28. 8.  Joshua Brumm   America   Claude McKay
29. 9.  Josh Rolfsmeyer   The Charge of the Light Brigade   Alfred, Lord Tennyson
30. 0.   Kyle Rojewski  The Road Not Taken  Robert Frost
31. 1.   Katie Keogh  Sea Fever  John Masefield
32. 2.   Levi Dybdal Catch A Little Rhyme  Eve Merriam
33. 3.  Jenica Allen Hulbert Envy Mary Lamb
34. 4.  Emma Orwen  The More Loving One W. H. Auden
35. 5.   Wyatt Dybdal  Invictus Willam Ernest Henley
36. 6.  Hailey Brown More Lies Karin Gottshall