Arts Council
Pikeville High School Student Amy Cordero Wins the 2008 Kentucky State Finals of the Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest

FRANKFORT, Ky.—Amy Cordero emerged as the winner among 23 high school students from across the commonwealth that competed in the third annual Poetry Out Loud state finals today, hosted by the Kentucky Arts Council on the campus of Kentucky State University in Frankfort. Emmanuel Nfor of Western Hills High School in Franklin County was named runner-up.

Cordero will receive $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. to compete in the national finals for a $20,000 scholarship prize on April 28 and 29, 2008. Her school, Pikeville High School also receives $500 for the purchase of poetry books while the runner-up Nfor will receive $100 with $200 for the Western Hills High School library. Both the Kentucky winner and runner-up will be invited to recite their poems at the Kentucky Writer’s Day Celebration, April 24, in Frankfort. 

Poetry Out Loud is presented by state arts agencies such as the Kentucky Arts Council in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. Last year over 100,000 high school students across the country participated in the program, which aims to develop young people’s public speaking skills, self-confidence, and knowledge of their literary heritage.

Starting at the classroom level, winners advance to a school-wide competition, then to the state competition and finally to the national competition, where 12 finalists and ultimately the Poetry Out Loud National Champion are chosen from the 50 state and the District of Columbia winners. Both of Kentucky’s past state winners, Kendra Holloway and Dean Muir, were chosen as national finalists.  

Participants in the Kentucky state finals have been selected from 23 high schools that completed a unit of study on poetry with materials provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and an artist residency provided by the Kentucky Arts Council before the contests began. Participating artists from the Kentucky Arts Council’s Arts Education Roster included Dick Albin, Angelyn DeBord, Bet Stewart, Cynthia Changaris, Katherine Mapother, Kathi E. B. Ellis, Mitch Barrett, Octavia Sexton, Shannon Woolley, and Susan Pope. Students worked with these professional artists in selecting, interpreting, and rehearsing their poems.  

Judges this year were Kentucky Poet Laureate Jane Gentry Vance, Sarah Gorham, poet and co-founder of Sarabande Books, Inc. in Louisville and Hasan Davis, a nationally-recognized performer, poet, and youth advocate. Kentucky Arts Council Board Member, Wilma Brown, served as accuracy official. Special guest Dr. Sarah Cunningham, Director of Arts Education for the National Endowment for the Arts presented awards to the state winner and runner-up, as well as each high school finalist.    

The finalists from each school competing were:

Allen County-Scottsville High School, Scottsville

Teacher Coordinator: Larissa Haynes

Finalist: Amanda Anderson

Poems: “A Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns and “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Ballard High School, Louisville

Teacher Coordinator: Colleen Gnau

Finalist: Joy Beth DeWitt

Poems: “Agoraphobia” by Linda Pastan and  “Up-Hill” by Christina Rosetti

Barren County High School, Glasgow

Teacher Coordinator: R. Alison Bradford

Finalist: Daniel Dutton

Poems: “Oh Captain! My Captain!” by Walt Whitman and “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost

Boyd County High School, Ashland

Teacher Coordinator: Dana R. Powers

Finalist: Holly Brown

Poems: “In A Dark Time” by Theodore Roethke and “A Psalm of Life” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Daviess County High School, Owensboro

Teacher Coordinator: Angela Gunter

Finalist: Jessica Basham

Poems: “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar and “The More Loving One” by W.H. Auden

Glasgow High School, Glasgow

Teacher Coordinator: Mary Fye

Finalist: Hannah Burd

Poems: “Eagle Poem” by Joy Harjo and “On Monsieur’s Departure” by Queen Elizabeth I

Grayson County High School, Leitchfield

Teacher Coordinator: Thomas Moudry

Finalist: Cortney Paris

Poems: “Domestic Violence” by Eavan Boland and “Song in the Front Yard” by Gwendolyn Brooks

Greenup County High School, Greenup

Teacher Coordinator: David DeBorde

Finalist: Morgan Wells

Poems: “Alone” by Edgar Allen Poe and “Siren Song” by Margaret Atwood

Hopkinsville High School, Hopkinsville

Teacher Coordinator: Julie Jones

Finalist: Vernell Bourne

Poems: “Harlem” by Langston Hughes and “To the Ladies” by Lady Mary Chudleigh

Mercer County High School, Harrodsburg

Teacher Coordinator: Betty Dean

Finalist: Dakota Rogers

Poems: “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning and “Chicago” by Carl Sandberg

Montgomery County High School, Mount Sterling

Teacher Coordinator: Kim Barnes

Finalist: Jordan Campbell

Poems: “The Tyger” by William Blake and “Battle Hymn of the Republic” by Julia Ward Howe

Monticello High School, Monticello

Teacher Coordinator: Jennifer Chaplin

Finalist: Tasia York

Poems: “Fever 103°” by Sylvia Plath and “Do Not” by Stevie Smith

North Hardin High School, Radcliff

Teacher Coordinator: Michelle Kessler

Finalist: Nichelle Green

Poems: “How I Discovered Poetry” by Marilyn Nelson and “Bilingual Bilingüe” by Rhina P. Espaillat

Ohio County High School, Hartford

Teacher Coordinator: Kent Maikranz

Finalist: Erica Martin

Poems: “Detroit Tomorrow” by Philip Levine and “In a Dark Time” by Theodore Roethke

Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, Lexington

Teacher Coordinator: Amanda Cope

Finalist: Kelsey Turcotte

Poems: “Sonnet 116” by William Shakespeare and “Another Feeling” by Ruth Stone

Pikeville High School, Pikeville

Teacher Coordinator: Rebecca King

Finalist: Amy Cordero

Poems: “Beauty” by Tony Hoagland and “Fever 103°” by Sylvia Plath

Russell Independent High School, Russell

Teacher Coordinator: Michelle Light

Finalist: Luke Lewis

Poems: “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe and “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll

Russellville High School, Russellville

Teacher Coordinator: Bethanie Hargett-Slack

Finalist: Kimberly Baugh

Poems: “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou and “Oh Captain! My Captain!” by Walt Whitman

Shelby County High School, Shelbyville

Teacher Coordinator: Stacey Moore

Finalist: Kayla Nash

Poems: “Holy Sonnets: Death Be Not Proud” by John Donne and “Flirtation” by Rita Dove

Simon Kenton High School, Independence

Teacher Coordinator: Laura Medley Schneider

Finalist: Samantha Riegler

Poems: “Father” by Edgar Albert Guest and “Playing Dead” by Andrew Hudgens

Taylor County High School, Campbellsville

Teacher Coordinator: Vicky Haydon

Finalist: Amanda Russell

Poems: “A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General” by Jonathan Swift and “The Properly Scholarly Attitude” by Adelaide Crapsey

Trimble County High School, Bedford

Teacher Coordinator: Marcie Jackson

Finalist: Amanda Durand

Poems: “Casey at the Bat” by Ernest Lawrence Thayer and “Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Western Hills High School, Frankfort

Teacher Coordinator: Lauren Hill

Finalist: Emmanuel Nfor

Poems: “Forgetfulness’ by Billy Collins and “The Second Coming” by William Butler Yeats

For more information about Poetry Out Loud, visit www.poetryoutloud.org. 

The Kentucky Arts Council is a state agency in the Commerce Cabinet that creates opportunities for Kentuckians to value, participate in and benefit from the arts. Kentucky Arts Council funding is provided by the Kentucky State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.

PHOTO: http://artscouncil.ky.gov/Press_Images/POL_Cordero.jpg

L. to R. Arts Council Board Member Wilma Brown, Arts Council Executive Director Lori Meadows, Poetry Out Loud State Finals Winner Amy Cordero, National Endowment for the Arts  Director of Arts Education Dr, Sarah Cunningham and Arts Council Arts Education Director John S. Benjamin.

PHOTO: http://artscouncil.ky.gov/Press_Images/POL_Cordero_Nfor.jpg

L. to R. Arts Council Board Member Wilma Brown, Arts Council Executive Director Lori Meadows, Poetry Out Loud State Finals Winner Amy Cordero, State Finals Runner-up Emmanuel Nfor, National Endowment for the Arts  Director of Arts Education Dr, Sarah Cunningham and Arts Council Arts Education Director John S. Benjamin.

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The Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, invests in programs that develop vibrant communities, provide lifelong education in the arts and support arts participation. Every $1 invested in operating support grants by the Kentucky Arts Council leverages $24 in earned income and matching funds from individuals, philanthropic sources and other levels of government. For more information, please visit www.artscouncil.ky.gov.

The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts—both new and established—bringing the arts to all Americans, and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Arts Endowment is the nation's largest annual funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases. For more information, please visit www.arts.gov.

The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, is an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. It exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience.