Santa Rosa High School junior Phebe Hong won the Sonoma County Poetry Out Loud competition this weekend and is expected to compete in the state competition in Sacramento on March 20 and 21.

“The competitive field was very strong this year,” said Karin Demarest in a statement. Demarest is the Poetry Out Loud Program Coordinator with the Arts Council of Sonoma County.  “The students’ recitations skills have become increasingly refined, and their understanding of the poems (has) deepened.”

Fourteen area high schools took part in the program that includes curriculum in advance of last weekend’s event.

“It’s wonderful to be exposed to so many new poets and poems while helping students expand out of their comfort zones,” Kirk Amos, English teacher at Rancho Cotate High School said in a statement. “Poetry Out Loud is an excellent addition to our curriculum.”

Thousands of students in California competed in the first round of the event that is run by the California Arts Council and that was started by the National Endowment for the Arts.

For more information on Poetry Out Loud, a national initiative, go to www.cac.ca.gov and www.poetryoutloud.org

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