Poetry Out Loud is a program that enables students around the country to study poetry and share the literary works they find, through a public speaking competition. Here at Eaton High School, Poetry Out Loud has been very popular; there are five EHS students participating in the event. Language Arts teacher, Jaryn Guerra, is the advisor for Poetry Out Loud and looked forward to having the event in person because last year Poetry Out Loud was held virtually. 

On February 9, at 6:00 pm, Poetry Out Loud competitors got together and performed at Coffee House 10/24. Warm scents of coffee and subtle notes of jazz music drifted through the air on Wednesday night while students shared the literary works they found. The jazz music was performed by some of Eaton’s best band students. Guerra decided to collaborate with EHS band teacher Logan Dodridge to add music for the event. 

Multiple staff members and students came to support those participating in Poetry Out Loud and were amazed by the emotion and underlying meanings that the students were able to express through this form of art. Charlotte Reynolds (22), Abigail Vondy (22), Dakota Braucher (23), Logan Gullet (23), and Alejandra Naranjo (22) all recited two poems; some were originals, written by the performer themselves. Naranjo, the winner of the 2022 Poetry Out Loud competition, has been involved in Poetry Out Loud for technically the past four years. Her biggest inspiration and the person who encouraged her to get involved in Poetry Out Loud was her freshman year English teacher, Ms. Sorenson. “She’s the one who actually told me to go with them (students competing in Poetry Out Loud 2018/2019) to the competition and it really opened a door to where I am now. I feel like if she never told me to go with them I wouldn’t have done it” said Naranjo. Vondy took second place and behind her was Braucher who took third. Reynolds and Gullet participated in the event but didn’t compete against the other students. The night was very successful and left the audience with warm hearts. Poetry Out Loud continues to extend their presence in schools like EHS and has reached more than 4.1 million students and 68,000 teachers from 17,000 schools and organizations in every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa Wide.