Ithalia Price from Pleasant Grove High School, in the Elk Grove Unified School District, is the winner of the 2015 Sacramento County Poetry Out Loud competition. She took first place from a field of 15 during the Sacramento County finals, held Thursday, February 5, at Rosemont High School in Sacramento. Hannah Oldfield, from Rio Americano High School in the San Juan Unified School District, is the Sacramento County runner-up. Ithalia earned the right to represent Sacramento County in the California State Finals, March 15-16 in Sacramento.
Sacramento Poet Laureate Jeff Knorr served as master of ceremonies. Sacramento County Board of Education Trustees Jacquelyn Levy and Greg Geeting, as well as Sacramento County Superintendent of Schools David W. Gordon and Deputy Superintendent Sue Stickel, were on hand to help present awards to the top-performing students.
The Sacramento County Poetry Out Loud competition encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization, performance, and competition. The program provides students with the opportunity to perform poetry in English classes. Modeled after the National Spelling Bee, Poetry Out Loud begins in local high school classrooms. Winners advance to school-wide, then regional competitions. This year's Poetry Out Loud National Finals will take place April 28-29, 2015 with monetary awards and school stipends being given.
2015 Poetry Out Loud Participants
- Carrie Thao, Arthur A. Benjamin Health Professions High School
- Julia Ross, Capital Christian High School
- Paul Yegorov, Center High School
- Rodrigo Uribe, Del Campo High School
- Alyssia Furtado, Elinor Lincoln Hickey Jr./Sr. High School, Boys & Girls Club
- Ariadna Espinoza, Elk Grove High School
- Rebecca Filatov, Futures High School
- Angel Ford, Heritage Peak Charter School
- Zariah Matthews, Inderkum High School
- Alena Dillon, John F. Kennedy High School
- Xue Chang, Luther Burbank High School
- Courtney Shannon, Natomas Charter School
- Ithalia Price, Pleasant Grove High School
- Hannah Oldfield, Rio Americano High School
- Natalie Berry, Rio Linda High School
Sacramento County's Poetry Out Loud program is supported by the Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE), California Poets in the Schools, and the Poetry Foundation. This activity is funded in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency, as well as the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
Thanks to the 2015 Poetry Out Loud judges: Danyen Powell, L. Steven Winlock, Ed.D., and Steve Caruso.