Verses ...Versus A Pheonix High School student poses with one of the reference books she used to research the dress she made to complement the poems she recited in the Poetry Out Loud Contest.

A sophomore in our Pheonix High School students is a brave young lady. One of her greatest fears is speaking in front of an audience. It is also something she wants to overcome. To accomplish this she entered Poetry Out Loud, a national recitation contest. She represented our District on Wednesday, February 6th, at the Museum of Arts and Culture, where she competed with students from five other Spokane County high schools in the Regional competition.

For the contest, the young lady had to memorize and recite two poems. One had to have been written before the 1800’s and the other had to be less than 25 lines. For the first poem, she selected To the Ladies by Lady Mary Chudleigh. She chose this poem because she could relate to its message, encouraging women’s rights. Relating to the poem was important as she had to “feel” the poem and recite it from the heart; the words might have been written by someone else, but she was to give them an authentic voice. Her second poem was by Emily Dickenson, “Hope” Is the Thing with Feathers. This one she liked, and it fit the criteria.

This learning activity was extended through researching the history of the periods in which the poems were written. One way that she did this was through the fashions of the times. One interesting fashion was the use of fans. During the Victorian era, fan signals were used by ladies to communicate surreptitiously. For example, drawing a fan across the forehead meant, “We are watched;” Dropping the fan meant, “We will be married;” and carried in the left hand meant, “I’d like to met you.” She researched what women wore and made a dress that Lady Mary Chudleigh might have worn. Even the way that women dressed said something about their place in society. she discovered, “How much stuff had changed in such a short time.”

After a few weeks of reviewing the Poetry Out Loud packet that her teacher, Mr. Paul Grubbs, supplied and qualifying for the competition by proving herself in front of a panel of teachers, she was ready. “It was a great, positive atmosphere,” she commented. The contestants clapped for each other both as someone took the stage and after they were done. This helped her to “come out of her bubble.” Once she made it onto the stage, she took a deep breath, faced her fear...and did extremely well. Both her mother and Mr. Grubbs stated that no one could tell that she had such a fear, not even the judges! “I was amazed,” commented Mrs. Brooks.

With this competition, the student has gained confidence. In fact, she plans on entering another poetry recitation contest, Poetry Slam, in which she will recite poems that she wrote. Apparently verses are the key; “Next year I’m going to compete and qualify for State!”