Local high school student Raffington going to state poetry competition

Phionna Raffington, a freshman at Bloomington High School South, was recently selected to advance to the Poetry Out Loud state competition.

High school students around the nation recite poems in a competition that starts in the classroom, advances to the school itself, expands to the state and eventually becomes nationwide.

The competition is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, and was created to encourage students to learn about great poetry.

Raffington recited Edgar Allan Poe’s “Alone,” and “Sonnet XVIII: Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day” by William Shakespeare, according to the school’s student newspaper the Optimist. Raffington won the BHSS competition in January.

Candidates in 18 Indiana schools will compete this weekend.

BHSS English teacher Shela McDermott-Sipe was the organizer of the competition at BHSS.

She said students select poems from an anthology provided by the organization. They rate each performance based on how effective the portrayal of the poem was.

“A big part of it is finding that personal connection with the speaker of the poem,” she said.

The winner of the state competition will receive a $200 prize, and the winner of the national competition will receive a $20,000 prize.

— Sarah Zinn