EDISON — A township student’s poetry recitation has won her a spot in a statewide competition.
Christelle Marie Chua, a student at Mother Seton Regional High School in Clark, won the Poetry Out Loud competition held Feb. 12 at the Mayo Performing Arts Center, Morristown. Along with fellow winner Ankita Mohapatra of the Morris County School of Technology in Parsippany, she will compete as a representative of Region 4 at the state finals at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center on March 14.
Poetry Out Loud is a national poetry recitation program for all public, charter, parochial and home-schooled students in grades 9-12. Now in its ninth year, the program encourages the nation’s youth to learn about great works of classic and contemporary poetry through memorization and recitation. The program is aimed at helping students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence and learn about their literary heritage.
Created by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, Poetry Out Loud is implemented by state arts agencies across the country. In New Jersey, the program is supported by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, in collaboration with a growing list of partners.