|  | From left to right: second runner-up Juan De La Cruz, runner-up Alexandra Zaleski, and Nebraska State Champion Maggie Harris. | |
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| Maggie Harris of Thayer Central Community Schools Named Poetry Out Loud State Champion
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 11, 2019
(Omaha, Nebraska) – Maggie Harris, a senior at Thayer Central Community Schools in Hebron, was named the 2019 Poetry Out Loud Nebraska State Champion. This is the fourth time that Thayer Central Community Schools and English teacher Anne Roesner Heitmann have sent a student to the national finals since the program began 14 years ago. Harris recited three poems, “Bleeding Heart” by Carmen Giménez Smith, “Adam’s Curse” by William Butler Yeats and “On the Death of Anne Brontë” by Charlotte Brontë.
Harris, along with 15 other students from high schools across the state, competed for the title on Sunday, March 10, at the Sheldon Museum of Art in Lincoln. Alexandra Zaleski of Skutt Catholic High School in Omaha was named first runner-up, and Juan De La Cruz of Gordon-Rushville High School in Gordon was named second runner-up.
Poetry Out Loud is a national arts education program that encourages the study of great poetry by offering educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition to high schools across the country. It is conducted in all fifty states, and the Nebraska Arts Council manages Nebraska’s statewide program. All Nebraska state finalists advanced through their school competitions to compete in Sunday’s event. At the competition, finalists recited works selected from an anthology of more than 900 classic and contemporary poems, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Sean O’Brien, Gabriel Rosetti, Lord Byron, Thomas Hood, Emily Dickinson, and Maya Angelou. Winners were chosen based on a set of criteria including voice and articulation, evidence of understanding and accuracy.
Harris will receive $200 and an all-expense paid trip with an adult chaperone to compete for the national championship in Washington D.C. April 30 – May 1. Her school will also receive a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books. Zaleski will receive $100 and a $200 stipend for her school library. The top three students each received original hand-blown glass trophies courtesy of Nebraskans for the Arts, and all state finalists received poetry books, including titles donated by the University of Nebraska Press.
Poetry Out Loud, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and Poetry Foundation, will award a total of $50,000 in scholarships and school stipends at the national competition, including a $20,000 scholarship for the national winner. Since 2005, Poetry Out Loud has reached more than 3.6 million students and 55,000 teachers from 14,000 schools nationwide.
For more information, visit poetryoutloud.org.
About Poetry Out Loud
Poetry Out Loud, a national poetry recitation program for high school students, is sponsored by the Poetry Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, and administered in partnership with State Arts Agencies in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. The Nebraska Arts Council organizes Nebraska’s statewide program and partners with Nebraskans for the Arts to coordinate the regional competitions.
About the Nebraska Arts Council
The Nebraska Arts Council (NAC), a state agency, provides numerous grants, services and special initiatives that help sustain and promote the arts throughout Nebraska. NAC is supported by the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, Nebraska Legislature and National Endowment for the Arts.
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