LA County reader named California Poetry Out Loud State Champion
Mia Ronn of Los Angeles County has been named this year’s California Poetry Out Loud state champion. The 16-year-old junior from The Archer School for Girls took first place in the recent statewide recitation competition.
The 2022 State Finals marked the 17th year of the Poetry Out Loud program for high school students, which encourages youth to learn about poetry through memorization and performance. Students representing 43 counties competed for the state title. For the third consecutive year, students participated in a virtual competition for the finals in response to the ongoing COVID-19 public health emergency.
Recitations from Ronn included “the world is about to end and my grandparents are in love” by Kara Jackson, “Two Guitars” by Victor Hernandez Cruz and “No, I wasn’t meant to love and be loved” by Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib.
Ronn shared her love for poetry as a participant of the Poetry Out Loud program.
“I am thrilled to be a part of Poetry Out Loud,” Roon said. “My biggest passions in life are performance and the literary arts, and to combine these passions is a dream. The arts are a place of expression, growth, understanding of others and connection, and Poetry Out Loud brilliantly fosters all these facets of creativity. POL provides a place of catharsis and growth for young people, and I am honored to be a part of the process.”
“Every year of Poetry Out Loud is a testament to the commitment and passion for the literary arts from our youth,” said California Arts Council Executive Director Anne Bown-Crawford. “The voices in Poetry Out Loud are vibrant and resonant. The future of the arts in California is in good hands with these creative hearts and minds.”
About Poetry Out Loud
An initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts and The Poetry Foundation, administered by the California Arts Council, Poetry Out Loud inspires in high school students the confidence to make themselves heard, using one of the most powerful tools at their disposal —a rt. Students are given the opportunity to interact with the words of well-respected poets through recitation, building a relationship with the works and creating a sense of shared ownership branded by their own technique of volume, pitch, pace, and personal point of view.
