Sulette Lange will soon compete on a national stage, reciting poems she learned in English class. She says the excitement and fear of speaking in front of an audience motivated her to give Poetry Out Loud a shot.
“I overcame a fear,” she said. “I think public speaking is a life skill… I feel like starting at a young age is best because then you’re used to it.”
Poetry Out Loud is a national program that promotes poetry and the arts in education.
It starts on a local level - Lange was the winner out of 195 students in the program at the Hazleton Area Arts and Humanities Academy.
Contestants select poems from a database and spend time memorizing and perfecting their routine before performing in front of a live audience, a panel of judges and, in some cases, TV cameras.
WVIA-TV hosted the regional competition, in which the winners from seven schools performed three poems of their choice. Lange won the regional and state competitions and will compete at the 2024 Poetry Out Loud National Finals April 30 through May 2.
Arts in Education NEPA works with the Pa. Council on the Arts to implement Poetry Out Loud at school districts in the region and coordinate the regional competition.
Liz Faist is the Assistant Director of Arts in Education NEPA.
“They find a way to take the words and make them their own through their recitation,” Faist said.
“Poetry can be viewed in so many different ways,” Lange said. “When I started working with [my teacher], she really did open my eyes and show me different perspectives and ways a poem can be viewed. And when she would tell me, I would see it.”
The performers were evaluated by their physical presence, voice and articulation, interpretation, evidence and understanding, overall performance and accuracy.
Catherine Richmond-Cullen is the Director of Arts in Education and has been managing the project since it started in 2005.
"They develop communication skills. They develop theatrical skills in their enactment of the poem," she said. "I think interpersonal skills are developed by the fact that they meet new friends and they engage with one another as they're waiting off stage.”
