On December 13, senior Rebecca Goodheart won first place at the school-wide Poetry Out Loud competition where she recited the poems “The Obligation to be Happy” and “The Light the Dead See.” Over the past couple of months, multiple DHS English classes have been competing in this competition which requires students to memorize famous poems and recite them before an audience of their peers. All participating classes held small competitions in order to send the top competitor within each class to compete school-wide.

Diego Soriano and Noah Belachew won second and third place respectively. Goodheart will be continuing on to the Regional competition which will take place on February 9 at the Center for the Arts in Manassas. She will be one of 20 competitors who will aim to move on to state competition on March 10.

Students and competitors gathered within the auditorium and enjoyed a very well conducted show that was run by Dr. Phillips, Mrs. Glynn, and other teachers as well as the 31 competitors themselves. Competitors recited two poems and were judged by a panel of English teachers who scored them on physical presence, voice and articulation, dramatic appropriateness, evidence of understanding, and overall performance.

Involvement in this nationwide competition was suggested by Dr. Phillips who in the past used Poetry Out Loud competition videos to help teach her college student about poetry. Phillips says “we were all so impressed” and that the competition will continue to take place at DHS in coming years.