CONTACT: Kate Kolenda
Tel: 517-372-7770
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 28, 2011
Detroit Cass Tech High School Student Seeks National Poetry In Semifinal Round Today
Today’s performance can be viewed live from www.poetryoutloud.org.
Washington, D.C. -- Harron Atkins, a senior at Detroit's Cass Technical High School, will compete in the Poetry Out Loud national finals April 28-29 in Washington, D.C. Atkins is the 2011 Michigan Poetry Out Loud Champion. He and 52 other students will face off for the national title and a $20,000 scholarship. Poetry Out Loud is a national poetry recitation competition for high school students.
Poetry Out Loud is like the Scripps National Spelling Bee, or the National Geographic Bee – but for poetry. Students select their poems from a list of classic and contemporary works, encouraging them to learn about great poetry through memorization and performance, thus mastering public speaking skills, building self-confidence and learning about their literary heritage.
The Michigan program is coordinated by the Michigan Humanities Council and sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, with additional support from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. This year, 32 Michigan high schools incorporated poetry recitation into their curriculum. Each school held a recitation competition and the winners competed in the state finals on March 12 in East Lansing, where Harron won his title. More than 15,000 Michigan students have participated in Poetry Out Loud since 2005.
Details
Who: Harron Atkins, senior at Detroit’s Cass Technical High School.
When: Performance slot semifinals, Thursday 1-4 p.m. Finals performance slot (if advances) 7-9:15 p.m. Friday.
Where: The Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U Street, NW , Washington, D.C. 20009
The Michigan Humanities Council is happy to arrange for interviews with Atkins, his teacher and other Council staff. Contact Kate Kolenda (kkolenda@mihumanities.org, 517-372-7770) for additional information.
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