Maria Carrillo student wins county poetry contest
Brynna Thigpen, a junior from Maria Carrillo High School in Santa Rosa, took first place in the Sonoma County “California Poetry Out Loud” competition, advancing to the state finals. On Mar. 25 and 26 in Sacramento, she will compete for hundreds of dollars and the chance to win thousands at the national finals.
The contest, run by the California Arts Council and started by the National Endowment for the Arts, emphasizes language skill and public speaking by requiring high school students to memorize and perform poetry. As many as 3,000 students from 13 Sonoma county high schools participated this year.
“Brynna had an astute ability to find the meaning in difficult poems and communicate it to the audience,” said poet Iris Dunkle of her student. “It was a joy to do the close-reading with her.”
For more information about Poetry Out Loud, visit cac.ca.gov/poetryoutloud and poetryoutloud.org.
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