Chilton to represent WOHS at regional poetry competition

WEST ORANGE, NJ — Junior Elijah Chilton was named the 2016 Poetry Out Loud winner at the 10th annual competition at West Orange High School on Jan. 6. Senior Kyla Trinidad was named as runner-up.

Chilton competed with nine other students to represent the high school at the regional competition at the South Orange Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, Feb. 16. Students were required to recite two poems by well-known poets approved by the Poetry Out Loud organization. At WOHS, 103 students had participated in the process until the final 10 were selected.

The performers were ninth-graders Orianna Carter and Danielle Rodriguez; 10th-grader Anna Favetta; 11th-graders Elijah Chilton, Janiya Peters, Sophia Adelson, Abraham Dada and Bianca Trinidad; and 12th-graders Sachel Bise and Kyla Trinidad.

Criteria for judging the performances included accuracy of memorization, physical presence, voice and articulation, dramatic appropriateness, difficulty factor of the poem, evidence of understanding, and overall performance.

Chilton’s recitation of “Queen’s Cemetery, Setting Sun,” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and “Sonnet: On Being Cautioned Against Walking On an Headland Overlooking the Sea Because it Was Frequented by a Lunatic,” by Charlotte Smith, impressed judges. Runner-up Kyla Trinidad performed “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain (340),” by Emily Dickinson, and “Cartoon Physics, part 1,” by Nick Flynn, which earned her second place.

Judges for the competition were retired West Orange High School English supervisor Karen Perry, English language arts 6-12 supervisor Liz Veneziano, Liberty Assistant Principal Michelle Martino, former Escriptus adviser and founder of Poetry Out Loud at the high school Tynia Thomassie, professor of English at William Paterson University and published author David Borkowski, and 2015 award-winner Amber McCleese.

Escriptus, the English Honors Society at WOHS, sponsored the event. Advisers and WOHS ELA teachers Mindy Harvat and Molly Wachtel served as emcees for the competition.

  Poetry Out Loud, West Orange High School