Last year Naugatuck High School introduced a new program called Poetry Out Loud. This program lets students compete while expressing  themselves by performing poetry.

Poetry Out Loud helps kids by using spoken word to help increase confidence in themselves. Adiana Alejandro, last year’s winner for the school-wide competition performed the poem “It Couldn’t Be Done” by Edgar Allen Guest. She gave some insight on how it felt to win the school-wide competition. “I was really happy, I looked up in the crowd and everyone was smiling.”

Piloted in 2005, Poetry Out Loud began as a way for students to express themselves through the use of poems written by various authors included on an extensive list. One student, Kennedy Burns, discovered the program and asked one of the English Department’s own, Mrs. Brennan, why this wasn’t implemented in this school currently. “Her passion inspired me to make it happen,” Mrs. Brennan said when asked how the program  started at NHS. “She made sure it happened, she followed up, she was at my door every single day until we had our first meeting.” Naugatuck High School is currently in its second year of participating in the program.

Students who participated in POL don’t just recite poetry; NHS has instituted many other activities related to Poetry Out Loud besides the school-wide competition. Kate Rushin, a professional poet, was invited to inspire students to join the program and nearly 100 students came to see her and hear her poems.

After Ms. Rushin’s workshop the interested students in the program got to choose their own poems and go more into more depth annotating them, discussing them in a group and, of course, reciting them out loud. Once all the students had chosen poems they went to Barnes and Noble to recite in front of an audience to practice reciting in front of a live audience.

The program has received so much support from the staff at NHS. Teachers from the entire English department to the administration at the school all supported the program and what it does for kids. NHS’s Resource Center staff played a huge role by setting up the school-wide competition for the students involved. When asked if she had any closing words for students who might be interested in POL Mrs. Brennan said, “If anybody has an interest, if you have a spark, you should come to the informational meeting after school Thursday 29 October.”