On December 13, our theatre department conducted the annual Poetry Out Loud competition! In total, 11 students participated. The Poetry Out Loud competition is a competition where each competitor chooses a poem from the Poetry Out Loud website to perform in front of the judges on competition day. The top four competitors were Kalen Wallace in first place, Makyla Fleming in second place, Jarian Harris in third place, and Kate Hulsey in fourth place. Kalen Wallace will represent NWRHS at the Poetry Out Loud Central Region Contest in February. I interviewed second place winner Makyla Fleming. She stated that although the competition was pretty laid back this year, everyone still remained nervous. She said, “Usually we have two rounds, but we only did one. It was a good experience; I appreciate doing it every year because of the poems. Each poem teaches me something new.” Northwest is so proud of each student.