VTHS students perform Poetry Out Loud

VERNON — Vernon Township High School recently held its eighth annual Poetry Out Loud Competition and crowned a new winner, freshman Reyna Whitty, who recited The Layers by Stanley Kunitz.
Sidney Sparta, a sophomore, and Zoe Heath, a senior, earned second and third place respectively. Miss Whitty will compete in the Regional Poetry Out Loud competition at the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown in February.
Honorable Mentions were awarded to Wayne Bardowell, Blake Harrsch, Hannah Kolonoski, Alyssa Kozdron, Ethan Metz, Michael Miranda, Val Sheehan, Caly Simeone and Sam Yanchuk.
This national competition requires students to memorize and recite poems before a panel of judges, who rank the students in areas including voice and articulation, dramatic appropriateness, and evidence of understanding. Vernon’s judges were retired VTHS English teacher, Mary Ann Kaicher, local chiropractor and alum of VTHS, Dr. Colleen Drache, Alicia Pollard, VTHS class of 2015 and Emily Phalon, a senior at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.
The students performed in front of an audience of hundreds of their peers, and all competitors finished feeling accomplished and erudite.