Walnut Creek Student Wins Countywide Poetry Contest

WALNUT CREEK, CA — A Las Lomas High School student was named the Poetry Out Loud champion of Contra Costa County.

Olivia Buhler won first place in the competition held Saturday at the high school in Walnut Creek.

Aliyah Houston from San Ramon Valley High School won second place, and Harper Iles from Pinole Valley High School won third place.

The County Finals included impressive high school champions Bryan Nguyen from Deer Valley High School, Adri Walker from DVC College Now, Mayari Mendo Pagtakhan from El Cerrito High School, Grace Pastor from Independence High School, and Lillian Hodges-Johnson from Mt. Diablo High School, according to ARTSCCC, which puts on the competition each year.

The first-place winner received a $200 gift card, second place $100, and third place $50. Each student received a gift bag with a book, T-shirt and a $25 gift card.

Olivia, a senior at Las Lomas, is interested in economics and politics. She is an avid speech and debater who is also a distance track runner. In the future, Olivia seeks to work in public policy to drive social change. Her performances of the poems "The World is Too Much With Us" by William Wordsworth and "Happy Hour" by Lee Ann Roripaugh proved to be a winning combination. On March 16, Olivia will compete in the Poetry Out Loud State Finals in Sacramento, where students recite three poems. Shortly afterward, the California state winner will be announced on California Arts Council email, internet and social media.

Poetry Out Loud is a national arts education program that encourages the study of poetry by offering free educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition for high school students across the country. This program helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history and contemporary life. Poetry Out Loud provides free curriculum materials—all available online—including a poetry anthology, a comprehensive teacher’s guide, videos of student performances, lesson plans, and promotional and media resources.

All Contra Costa County high school students are invited to enter Poetry Out Loud. School winners advance to the county competition each February, then the state competition in March, and ultimately to the National Finals. Every Contra Costa County high school —public, private, parochial, independent, alternative, continuation, court, charter and home schools, non-profit organizations, and libraries —is encouraged to participate. Students don’t enter the competition directly but through their high schools or a school liaison such as a teacher, librarian, school staff, or organization member.

In Contra Costa County, the Poetry Out Loud team consists of Brennan DeFrisco as coordinator; Robin Moore as school competition coordinator; Jeremy Phillips as coach; Jose Cordon as coach; Esther Rojas Soto as ARTSCCC program, marketing & community outreach manager; and Jenny Balisle, ARTSCCC executive founding director.

County competition judges included Nava Mizrahhi, Donté Clark, Jaz Sufi, Mallory Asis and Nazelah Jamison. The accuracy judge was Robin Moore, while Brad Krebs was the county competition tabulator.

"Contra Costa County has an inspiring and engaged poetry community," Balisle said. "ARTSCCC facilitates the Poetry Out Loud program to support high school youth as part of our California Arts Council State-Local-Partner grant. At the Contra Costa County Poetry Out Loud competition, each high school champion displayed courage and strength. The Arts truly speak to the human experience. Poetry puts words to feelings that can be difficult to express directly. The Arts foster creativity, empathy, and understanding of the world around us. ARTSCCC is committed to building a strong and stable arts foundation for Contra Costa County."

The Poetry Out Loud Contra Costa County competition will air Feb. 24- March 8 on Contra Costa TV.

ARTSCCC thanked the Contra Costa County Office of Education for providing a competition venue and a CCTV video stipend.

Poetry Out Loud is supported by the California Arts Council, National Endowments for the Arts, Poetry Foundation, Lesher Family Foundation and Zellerbach Family Foundation.