Sophomore Mattie Mills won the annual Poetry Out Loud competition held in the library Jan. 8.

“I was really impressed by our reciters and respect their courage so much,” English Curriculum Coordinator Casey Engel said.

During the competition, Mills recited “Ode to the Midwest” by Kevin Young, “Megan Married Herself” by Caroline Bird, and “On an Unsociable Family” by Elizabeth Huns. She was the only competitor in the school competition, leading her to win by default. She will advance to the South Kansas City Regionals Feb. 9. and will recite the same poems as she did at the competition Jan. 8. There will be 10 students competing at the regional competition, and the winner of that competition will move onto State.

“I was really nervous, but I was excited because I worked really hard on preparing,” Mills said. “I competed last year in the Poetry Out Loud competition and got second runner up in the first round but I’ve grown a lot since then so I’m really excited for regionals.”

While Mills received second runner up in the competition last year, senior Tempest Malone advanced to and recited at the state competition in Jefferson City. Although she didn’t win State to advance to nationals, Malone still serves as a role model to the underclassmen involved in Poetry Out Loud, according to Engel. Malone chose not to compete in the competition again this year, but still came to support the other reciters and recited a poem to conclude the event.

“It made me really happy seeing the underclassmen like Mattie recite their poems I felt so proud of their courage,” Malone said. “I’m really excited to see Mattie compete in regionals because after doing Poetry Out Loud every year, it almost feels like I’m handing over the torch to them.”