L-R, Shauna Stack, Sonal Rastogi and Irene Van Ryn. This trio will advance to the Capital District Regional Contest on February 25.

January 15, 2010 - The process started in September, where nearly 500 Shaker High School students in grades 9-12 participated in Poetry Out loud: National Recitation. The list was whittled down to 11 students, all of whom stood on the Shaker High School auditorium stage Tuesday night and recited two poems in front of family, friends, teachers and a panel of judges that included Superintendent Randy Ehrenberg.

Genevieve Mailloux, a former Shaker High School student who graduated in 2009 and competed in Poetry Out Loud in 2008 and 2009, advancing to the National Finals in 2008, was one of three judges scoring the competition. With all of her experience, she had some interesting advice for the participants.

“Don’t worry or think too much about the wording,” she said. “If you do, it will affect the performance. Stay calm and remember to breathe.”

Irene Van Ryn (Agoraphobia, Linda Pastan, To Fashion, Elizabeth Moody), Shauna Stack (Be Music, Night, Kenneth Patchen, Alone, Edgar Allan Poe) and Sonal Rastogi (Snow Day, Billy Collins, How We Made a New Art on Old Ground, Eavan Boland) all took Genevieve’s advice to heart as they all advanced to the Capital District Regional Contest on February 25.

Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest was created by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. Poetry Out Loud is administered in partnership with the State Arts Agencies of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.

In 2006, Shaker High School was one of six schools in New York State to participate in Poetry Out Loud, as it was launched as a pilot program. In 2010, 70 schools in New York now participate. Since the competition’s inception, Shaker High School has made it to the state finals every year and has had representation at the national finals twice.