MMI Preparatory School sophomore Andrew Decker captured the regional Poetry Out Loud competition against students from parts of six counties and will advance to the state finals March 5-6, 2017 in Harrisburg. The winner of the state competition advances to the national championship in Washington, D.C.
Andrew Decker is the son of Aaron Decker, Kingston, and Elizabeth and Troy Topolski, Sugarloaf.
Jennifer Novotney, MMI English instructor and Poetry Out Loud adviser, said, “Andrew did a fantastic job and we are all very proud of him. It is an honor to have him represent MMI Preparatory School at the state finals.”
During the regional competition, which was held at the WVIA-TV studios in Pittston, students had to recite two poems each and the top three recited a third poem to determine the winner. The local regional event featured students from Luzerne, Lackawanna, northwestern Pike, Susquehanna, Wayne and eastern Wyoming counties and was under the direction of Arts in Education of Northeastern Pennsylvania, Northeastern Educational Intermediate Unit 19. The regional competition will be televised in April on WVIA-TV in recognition of National Poetry Month.
Poetry Out Loud encourages students to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation. This program helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence and learn about literary history and contemporary life. The competition is part of the coupling of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation with U.S. state arts agencies. Since 2005, Poetry Out Loud has grown to reach more than 3 million students and 50,000 teachers from 10,000 schools in every state, Washington, D.C., the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
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