Students and teachers gathered in the JP cafeteria on January 16 to enjoy the poetry performance contest. During periods eleven and twelve, the JP Stevens English classes were brought together to witness the creative students from the Poetry Performance Club present various poems, short and long, for a chance to proceed onto the regional competitions for Poetry Out Loud.
As soon as the bell rang, signifying the start of period eleven, various English students sat along the rows of tables with their respective teachers to politely get ready for round three of JP’s poetry out loud competition. As the initial round consisted of JP’s very own AP Literature students, round 2 narrowed down the scope for students to present longer pieces of poetry. This final school-level round contained the top scoring students. The judges of the performances included Principal Fay Kim as well as others from the English department of JP. They sat in the front row, opposite to the performers, with straight attentiveness to the presentations in order to evaluate and score their physical presence, voice, interpretation, and performance to the highest extent. The PPC advisor, Mr. Kuczynski hosted this event and addressed the cafeteria as students settled in. He prepared a warm welcome to the guests in attendance as well as the judges to start this event. The event consisted of two rounds, one short poem performance and one long performance. While everyone faced the front of the room with courtesy to the recitations, the initial round began as the first contestant approached the podium. Senior Anisha Bag started off this night’s productions with a deeply descriptive and creative poem, “Today” by Bill Collins. The afternoon continued on while the audience politely cheered in between each performance, encouraging the contestants as they presented their recitations one by one.
“I was moved by the talent that my fellow classmates had,” stated junior Reneesha Parnati. “I loved that I had the opportunity to watch them.”
Soon after, the next round began and contestants presented their longer recitations of poems, starting off with Arya Patil. Her rendition of “And Soul” by Eavan Boland was strong and passionate, allowing the audience to experience the presented emotions of these longer pieces. These passages continued to be spoken aloud until the end of period 11 and beginning of period 12, when the contestants and judges had a break with students filing in and out. During this 5 minute interval, the contestants received a break to stretch and get ready for their final productions as the judges conversed with each other and discussed the talent in the room. Mr. Kuczynski once again addressed the cafeteria to reestablish the etiquette in the room. As the final period began, the final performances were conducted as well. Diya Parthiban, senior, evoked the crowd’s last ovation with her recitation of a metaphorical piece entitled, “After the Gentle Poet Kobayashi Issa” by Robert Hass. As the judges took the last few moments of period 12 to gather their ballots, the students were able to sit back and enjoy the performers’ voices until the final bell rang.
“I was definitely nervous when the final round of the competition came,” stated Abir Wyne, a new contestant. “ But it was so much fun being able to see all the emotions that were displayed.”
By the end of the day, the judges’ votes were tallied up. The poetry performance club presented senior Kriti Agarwal as the winner of JP’s poetry out loud contest, where she will continue on to regional competitions. All in all, this enticing event not only encouraged the contestants to continue to present their voices aloud, but inspired many other JPS students to join the inclusive and entertaining poetry performance contest.
