09-03-2025
Grant High School junior wins state Poetry Out Loud competition
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A junior from Grant High School in Portland is Oregon's 2025 champion.
Bena Rodecap received the top score at Saturday's contest, organized by the Oregon Arts Commission in collaboration with the National Endowment for the Arts.
Rodecap memorized and performed 'A Noiseless Patient Spider' by Walt Whitman, 'Say Grace' by Emily Jungmin Yoon and 'How to Write a Poem' by Laura Hershey.
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'Each of the poems I chose I innately recognized a little piece of myself in,' she told KOIN 6 News. 'I think that's one of the really special things abut this competition is it allows a 16-year-old girl from Portland, Oregon to connect to the words of Walt Whitman, written over 100 years ago.'
As far as future plans, Rodecap said she wants to be an environmental lawyer. But for now, she will represent Oregon at the in Washington D.C. in May.
Gio Calandrella, a Grant High School freshman, was named runner-up. He would be invited to represent Oregon in the national competition should Rodecap be unable to attend.
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