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cash award and $200 for

her school library. Second

runner-up was Ben Elliot

(Staunton). Anne Holton,

Virginia’s Secretary of

Education, attended the

state finals program and

spoke to the competitors

and the audience about the

importance of poetry in

building

self-confidence.

She presented the awards

to the winners and offered

her congratulations to the

regional finalists and to all

of the participating students

throughout the state.

The state winner, Ahkei

Togun of Tallwood High

School (Virginia Beach)

recited “The Way It Sometimes Is” by Henry Taylor, captivating

the audience with his visually expressive interpretation. As the

state champion, he received a $200 cash award, a $500 stipend for

his school and all all-expenses paid trip to represent Virginia in the

Poetry Out Loud finals. At the national finals, Ahkei took 4th place

in the regional competition, winning $1,000 and additional funds for

his school library.

On April 17th, Ahkei was invited to participate in a poetry

workshop at the White House with poet Elizabeth Alexander on

behalf of the RISE, an award winning out of school and after school

program in Hampton Roads. The poetry workshop was coordinated by

the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities in celebration

of National Poetry Month. Gail Easley, Executive Director of the

Crispus Attucks Cultural Center and RISE coordinator stated, “We

are excited to share this opportunity with Ahkei, and know that he

represents some of the best young voices in the nation--so we look

forward to seeing him and our students rise to the challenge of a

‘master class’ and workshop.” At theWhite House, President Obama

spoke with the students and invited guests stating, “Poetry matters.

Poetry—like all art—gives shape and texture and depth of meaning to

our lives. It helps us to understand others—their struggles, their joys,

the ways that they see the world.”

Poetry is important to the fabric of our culture and in the 10th

anniversary year of Poetry Out Loud, VCA has partnered withWCVE

and Virginia Education Association (VEA) to record and broadcast

the Virginia Finals throughout the state. WCVE contributor and

frequent host Daphne Maxwell Reid served as emcee for the state

Poetry Out Loud:

The Art of Recitation

and Memorization

Since the fall of 2014, over 10,800 high school students across

Virginia delved into great classical and contemporary works of poetry

revisiting the art of memorization and recitation through the national

program “Poetry Out Loud”. Celebrating its tenth year as an arts

education partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts and

the National Poetry Foundation and in cooperation with the Virginia

Commission for the Arts (VCA), Poetry Out Loud encourages high

school students to learn great poetry through performance, public

speaking, and memorization. Jessie Urgo, an 11th grader at Grace

Christian School (Staunton), and Poetry Out Loud participant said,

“Memorizing is more than simple remembering—it also turns

into a meditation on the

meaning of the poem and the

poet’s skillful weaving of

language.”

Friday,

March

13, 2015, eleven regional

winners from across the

Commonwealth convened

at the Community Idea

Station WCVE (Richmond)

to compete for the title of

Poetry Out Loud Virginia

State Champion and the

opportunity to represent

Virginia at the national

competition taking place

April 28-29, in Washington,

DC. Poetry Out Loud begins

at the high school classroom

level where students compete

to advance to the school-

wide, regional, state and

ultimately the national finals.

The eleven state competitors

included: Isabelle Andrews

(Richmond),

Grace

Burgess (Arlington), Ben

Elliott (Staunton), Kayla

Hackney (Haysi), Hunter Grace Jernigan (Alexandria), Annie

Lee (Winchester), Brennan Reid (Crozet),

Anna Repp (Fredericksburg), Ahkei Togun

(Virginia Beach), Jessie Urgo (Staunton), and

Alex Walhout (Virginia Beach). All students

competed in two rounds of poetry with

selections they chose from over 800 works in

the Poetry Out Loud Anthology.

Judges for the 2015 Virginia Poetry

Out Loud championship included: Anna

Bushman, visual artist and educator; Rebecca

Jones, a Richmond playwright and lyricist;

Shara Lessley, author, educator, and 2015

NEA Creative Writing Fellowship winner;

and Tracy Fair Robertson, K-12 English

Language Arts Coordinator for the Virginia

Department of Education. After two rounds

of competition, the judges identified the top

three finalists who recited a third poem of

their choice. First runner-up Isabelle Andrews

of St. Catherine’s School, received a $100

Ahkei Togun–

state champion

Annie Lee from Winchester performing

at the WCVE studios

Poetry Out Loud participants

Photos by Chris Poupore