(L-R) Adah Hetko, Arielle Ray and Genevieve Mailloux won the school district’s fourth annual Poetry Out Loud contest.

January 22, 2008 - Three Shaker High School seniors will represent the North Colonie Central School District in the 2009 New York State regional Poetry Out Loud contest in February.

Adah Hetko, Genevieve Mailloux and Arielle Ray won the school district’s fourth annual Poetry Out Loud contest and hope to advance to the state finals in March, then to the national finals in Washington, D.C. in April. North Colonie students have advanced to the national finals twice in the past three years.

The regional finals will be held at The Arts Center of the Capital Region, 265 River Street,
Troy, Thursday, Feb. 12, 6-9 p.m.

More than 600 Shaker High students participated in preliminary classroom competitions, and a semi-final round was held after school earlier this year. Ten students were selected for the final competition, held earlier this month.

Judging the contestants were Superintendent Randy Ehrenberg, Naton Leslie, a Siena College English professor, whose most recent collection of poetry, “Emma Saves Her Life,” was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, and Anne McCabe, a Marist college professor who has written several books on surviving state-mandated testing.

The three winners read the following poems:

• Adah Hetko

  “Poem with One Fact” by Donald Hall

  “Barter” by Sarah Teasdale

• Genevieve Mailloux

  “Alabanza: In Praise of Local 100” by Martin Espada

  “Immigrant Picnic” by Gregory Djanikian

• Arielle Ray

  “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll

  “Safe in their Alabaster Chambers” by Emily Dickinson

Poetry Out Loud was created in 2005 by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation to encourage high school students to study and read famous poetry. The contest invites the dynamic aspects of slam poetry, spoken word and theater into English classes. The program helps students develop public speaking skills, build self-confidence and learn more about literature.

Shaker’s contest was organized by the Shaker High School English Council and their advisor, Mrs. Siobhan Matrose. Shaker junior Alison Inceu was Mistress of Ceremonies and Shaker students Tim Farrell and Mike Roninson provided the music for the evening.