Ten Delaware high school students to compete for the state title and to advance to virtual National Finals

WHAT: Ten Delaware high school students participated in the taped state finals for Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest that will premiere on the Delaware Division of the Arts’ YouTube channel. The winner of this competition will represent Delaware and advance to the national semifinals, to be streamed on Sunday, May 1, 2022 on arts.gov, with the top nine students advancing to the national finals, that will stream on Sunday, June 5, 2022. This program is sponsored by the Delaware Division of the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Poetry Foundation.

WHEN: Thursday, March 10, 2022, at 7:00 p.m.

WHERE: Delaware Division of the Arts’ YouTube channel

Watch the Premiere – March 10 at 7 p.m.

2022 Delaware State Finalists

Name School
Blessings Akanbi Hodgson Vocational Technical School
Joelle Caternor Smyrna High School
Robyn Goodman Woodbridge High School
Aiden Morris Mount Sophia Academy
Ololade Olubowale The Tatnall School
Natalie Kim Ramos Saint Mark’s High School
Kai Schmiedel Delaware Valley Classical School
Ashley Schnyder Sanford School
Kylie Short Milford High School
Carrie Van Hauter Sussex Central High School

 

Speakers and judges will be:

Speakers:

Jessica Ball, Director, Delaware Division of the Arts

The Honorable Jeffrey W. Bullock, Secretary of State, State of Delaware

Mistress of Ceremonies:

JoAnn Balingit, D. Teaching Artist

Judges:

Jamie Brunson, Executive Director, First Person Arts and 2022 Individual Artist Fellow – Playwriting

Kari Ann Ebert, Poetry and Interview Editor, The Broadkill Review

David Salner, Poet and Writer

Alyssa Watters, Teen Center Coordinator, Milford Public Library

Christian Wills, Poet, Teaching Artist, and Lyricist

Beverly Romain, Poet, Teaching Artist, and Writer will serve as Accuracy Judge

Production Team:

Director: Traci Currie, Ph.D, Teaching Artist

Film Editor: Kevin Muhammad, Advocate Media

Closed Captioning: Daniel Sato, Director of Multimedia, Government Information Center, State of Delaware

Program Staff:

Sheila Dean Ross, Program Officer, Arts in Education, Delaware Division of the Arts

Kaitlin Ammon, Program Officer, Communications and Marketing, Delaware Division of the Arts

Dana Wise, Administrative Assistant, Delaware Division of the Arts