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Poetry Out Loud Winner Blogs Her Experience
Ashley Baccam, a senior at East High School in Des Moines, was Iowa’s winner in the first Poetry Out Loud state poetry recitation competition April 1. Poetry Out Loud, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, was produced in Iowa by the Iowa Arts Council in partnership with the Des Moines National Poetry Festival. Ashley graduated this spring from East High School in Des Moines, and plans to attend Grinnell College in the fall to major in communications.
In addition to winning a cash prize for herself and also for her high school library (to purchase poetry books, of course!), Ashley won the opportunity to compete in the National Poetry Out Loud competition in Washington, D.C. May 16.
The Iowa Arts Council asked her to write a blog about her experiences on this trip, and she graciously complied.
May 15, 2006:
Hello, everyone. This is Ashley Baccam, and this is my blog for my adventures through D.C. as the Poetry Out Loud state champion for Iowa. My flight to D.C. was pretty good. I'm not much of a fan of airplanes, but they transport you to places quickly.
We're staying at the Hilton Hotel on Connecticut Street. It's a really nice hotel, and it seems that they are hosting a lot of events this week, not just Poetry Out Loud. There seems to be an event for Toronto Olympic Members, Wheelchair Olympics, a police convention all at the same time. So, this hotel is going to be very busy.
First, I had to register. After I got my itinerary and nametag, they gave me a bag filled with poetry books. A very nice surprise. :)
We had a large group dinner tonight in one of the ballrooms in the hotel. There was lots of delicious food. My family and I got to sit and greet and talk with all the other state champions and their chaperones. I met a lot of interesting people at the dinner. Every competitor seemed unique in their own way, and that was pretty cool.
The speakers greeted us by reciting poems and welcoming the state champions. We met important people who funded and worked with the National Endowment for the Arts which is celebrating its 40th Anniversary.
But this was only the opening reception! The real competition will start
tomorrow.
May 16, 2006:
Today was an exciting day. The competition day.
But first we had a breakfast in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Several Congress men and women spoke to us as we ate breakfast. I was delivered a letter by Senator Grassley congratulating me for being Iowa’s State Champion.
All the states were divided into numbered subgroups by location. I was in group #3. The competition was set up like this:
Groups 1 and 2 would compete with each other in the first semifinal.
Groups 3 and 4 would compete with each other in the next semifinal.
Groups 5 and 6 would compete with each other in the last semifinal.
Then, 4 finalists from each semifinal (12 total) would move to the final round at night in front of a large audience.
As I watched each semifinal, I was amazed at how talented everyone was. We were all State Champions, and there was no doubt that we all had a knack for reciting poetry.
The competition was very tough. There were so many good people, and I’m glad I was not a judge. I had a lot of fun hearing new poetry and interpretations.
Unfortunately, I did not make it to the finals. It was okay though, because I knew we all couldn’t make it. The people who did make it to the finals were amazing. Their skill of interpreting poetry was so different for each of the 12 finalists.
All 12 finalists received a $1,000 scholarship, plus $500 for their school to purchase poetry books.
The national champion for the Poetry Out Loud contest this year was Jackson Hille from Ohio. He did a very good job. He recited witty poems with much sarcasm and satire. He received a $20,000 scholarship.
It was a tightly scheduled day full of poetry, but now it’s time to sleep for the plane ride home tomorrow!
May 17, 2006:
Today, before I went on my flight back to Des Moines, I visited Senator Harkin for breakfast in the Russell Senate Office Building. He congratulated me on being a State Champion for Iowa, and we discussed what Poetry Out Loud was. My family and I couldn’t stay for long, because soon we had to get on our flight.
I didn’t get to sight-see much in D.C. because my schedule was so tightly packed. :( But I did get to take some pictures of the Capitol and the Russell Senate Building. I’ll have to visit D.C. again so I can sight-see more!
All in all, this was a wonderful experience. And I’m very grateful I got to go through and take part in the great art of reciting poetry.
This competition was really about the poetry. It was hard to judge the recitation of these poems because poetry is so subjective. Everyone can interpret each poem in a different way, and different poems are more favorable to some than others. It just shows that poetry is for everyone. Everyone can find some kind of poetry they like.
This really was a great experience, and I hope people will try to be more aware of poetry after being in this event. I encourage students next year to try out for the competition, because it really does make you more worldly and accepting of new forms of poetry.
Thanks for reading about my trip to Washington, D.C.
I hope everyone takes a chance at finding new poetry and reading it out loud.
-Ashley Baccam
