Every year in the month of January, Goffstown High School hosts tryouts for Poetry Out Loud. Poetry Out Loud is a national competition that encourages high school students to learn about poetry while also improving their public speaking skills. This year’s winner for GHS was junior Keira Schaefer. The runner up was junior Kaitlyn Starry. Students memorized two poems and performed them in front of judges.

Keira has always loved poetry. She’s published a few of her own poems online and enjoys creative writing in her free time. She even tried out last year for Poetry Out Loud and was runner up. Keira chose two Emily Dickinson poems to perform. Dickinson is her favorite poet.

The contest took place in the step room after school, on January 9th. In order to prepare for tryouts, Keira performed the poems many times in front of her family and made sure she understood the meaning of each poem. “I think it’s a very fun experience everyone should do. It helps break the fear of public speaking, and it’s always good to immerse yourself in other people’s writing,” Keira said.

Poetry Out Loud was created in 2006 by the National Endowment for the Arts and millions of students across the country have participated. Goffstown High School will be rooting for Keira on February 11 at New England College, where the regional competition will take place.