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Lorincz Beats Out 79 Other WHS Students to Take Top Prize in 2012 Poetry Out Loud Competition

WHS Junior Advances to Feb. 18 Regional at Joslyn

by WHS English Instructor Larry Fangman on February 06, 2012

WHS junior Sesly Lorincz won the sixth Wahoo High School Poetry Championship on Friday, Feb. 3 in the WPS Performance-Learning Center.

In third place after the first round of poems, Lorincz rallied to victory with a stirring rendition of “The Paradox” by Paul Laurence Dunbar. Lorincz also recited “I’m Learning to Abandon the World” by Linda Pastan.

Sophomores Ronnie Brust and Evann Vrana captured the second and third place trophies. Other finalists competing to be Wahoo High School champion were Haley Jones, Matthew Spicka, Janae Urban, Zendy Sotelo, Riley Sleister, Evann Vrana, Tymber States, Ashley Brandt, Rosie Welsh, and Fenina Rummel.

Judges for the school finals were WPS Media Director David Privett, Director of Learning Sue Heine, and Speech and Drama Director Cherie Johnson.

Eighty Wahoo students competed in Poetry Out Loud this year. All of Mr. Fangman’s English 10 students competed in Poetry Out Loud, and the competition was open to all WHS students.

“Students really benefited this year from having the use of the Performance Arts Theater,” said WHS English Instructor Larry Fangman.

All eighty students in this year’s competition recited their poems from the stage, using a microphone, twice in practice, and two more times at their final recitations. Having the school finals in the theater allowed us to emulate the exact conditions competitors will have at the regional, state, and national competitions.

Lorincz will now compete at the regional competition in Omaha at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha on Saturday, February 18, at 2:00 p.m. The public is invited, and admission is free.

The top finishers at Regionals (there are three regional competitions in Nebraska) will advance to the State Finals in Lincoln, with the state winner earning an all-expense-paid trip to Washington D.C. for the national finals. The winner at nationals will earn $20,000, and other finalists will earn an additional $30,000 in awards and school stipends.