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Florissant Civic Center Hosts Poetry Out Loud Regional Championships
The St. Louis County Missouri Regional Championships of Poetry Out Loud were held earlier this month at the Florissant Civic Center Theatre. Poetry Out Loud is a national poetry recitation contest supported in all 50 states by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.
Florissant Mayor Tom Schneider welcomed the student participants, faculty members, family and friends.
Winners from individual school Poetry Out Loud competitions from Affton High School, John Burroughs School, Lutheran High School North, McCluer North Senior High School, Nerinx Hall, Parkway North High School, Parkway South High School, Parkway West High School and Villa Duchesne were represented.
After each of the three rounds in which the students recited poems they selected from the vast Poetry Out Loud database, scores from three judges were totaled to determine the top three competitors.
The 2015 St. Louis County Regional Champion is senior Sam Pointer from Affton High School. Troy Kozak is the school coordinator for Affton. Kaitlyn Reynolds, a sophomore from Nerinx High School, claimed second place. Jean Fry is the school coordinator for Nerinx Hall. Miranda Tze, a freshman from Parkway South High School, placed third. Steve Wissinger is the school coordinator for Parkway South.
Pointer, the regional champion, will have all expenses paid to participate in the Missouri State Poetry Out Loud competition in Jefferson City on March 12. The Missouri State Champion will compete at the National Poetry Out Loud Finals in Washington, D. C., April 27-29. The national winner will receive a $20,000 scholarship.
The Poetry Out Loud St. Louis County Regional Finals is a collaboration of the National Endowment for the Arts, Arts Works, the Poetry Foundation, the Missouri Arts Council, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Missouri association for Community Arts Agencies and the City of Florissant.
