February 7, 2022, 4pm
Poetry Out Loud
Poetry Out Loud empowers high school students to have the confidence to make themselves heard, using one of the most powerful tools at their disposal—poetry. It encourages teens to learn about poetry through memorization, performance, and competition. This initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts is administered statewide by the California Arts Council, and countywide by the San Mateo County Office of Arts & Culture. The 2021 California competition was represented by 47 counties, 208 schools, and 416 teachers, reaching more than 10,000 students statewide.
This annual program commences in the fall providing high school teachers and youth organization leaders with a free Poetry Out Loud toolkit to teach poetry recitation and hold classroom or group competitions. Frontrunners advance to a schoolwide/organization wide competition.
School/organizational champions are mentored by Poet Laureates and poetry teachers who prepare them to effectively compete at the county, state and national levels if selected. The countywide competition will take place in early February 2022. More information will be provided soon.
Visit poetryoutloud.org for detailed information.
For questions about how to participate, please contact Mara Grimes mgrimes@smcgov.org
Aileen Cassinetto 