Latest news with #PoetryOutLoudNationalFinals
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
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Recent graduate Kaitlyn Lubega brings New Mexico national acclaim in poetry
Seeing life inside a Ugandan refugee camp. Facing discrimination as a Black woman. Building the strength to hold one's head high. Kaitlyn Lubega says she channels hardships like these into her poetry performances, transforming the pain of humanity into rhyme and cadence. The effort paid off in early May when Lubega, a recent graduate of United World College-USA in Montezuma, earned third place in the Poetry Out Loud National Finals in Washington. She competed against 54 others from across the United States. It was her second time representing New Mexico in the national competition, after winning both the 2024 and 2025 state championships. But for her second and higher-placing national performance, she enjoyed herself more and felt a deeper connection to the experiences that inform her performance, she said. Channeling pain into poetry Lubega, 18, was born in the United Kingdom and raised in New Jersey. A daughter of Ugandan immigrants, she faced both racism and sexism in a small community of people who didn't look like her. 'I viewed myself as lesser growing up, and I never liked the fact that I was Ugandan for the longest time in my life,' she said by phone from her New Jersey home. The lessons of her parents, Mohammed and Florence, and the guidance of her Auntie Tina, kept her afloat through tough times as a kid, she said. ' I think especially those strong women,' she said. 'Being the strong women that they were unapologetically, not destructively, but very peacefully and gracefully themselves.' They dressed, spoke and wore their hair the way they wanted, Lubega said, which 'at a young age made me feel less ashamed,' and gave her confidence to exist in a space where she 'didn't really feel appreciated.' There was a positive side to her difficult upbringing. She won best-in-grade year after year in her school's poetry competition, sparking a love of both writing and performing poetry. Her move to New Mexico to attend United World College gave her the space to look back and contextualize her life experiences instead of seeing them 'as a passerby,' she said. New Mexico's serenity helped her become reflective, and the school's method of instruction encouraged her to find herself through 'the complexity of our everyday lived experiences,' she said. Back in Uganda Lubega visits Uganda every other summer, and before her return last year, she got a class assignment as part of her International Baccalaureate in global politics: She would visit a refugee camp, engage with the community and write a report on the experience. At Palabek Refugee Settlement in northern Uganda and its companion school, Lugeba interviewed people. It affected her more deeply than most assignments, in part because she was treated better than locals just because she was from the United States. That treatment reminded her of the 'privilege' she said those from the United States are afforded. 'I love the country,' she said. 'But it was so difficult to see some of the problems and the recurring cycles that seem to never leave Uganda in some way.' Uganda has more refugees than any other African country, according to the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants nonprofit. And those refugees are dealing with overpopulation and food insecurity driven by surging conflicts in neighboring countries like South Sudan. Those conditions became worse after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January that froze nearly $2 billion for international humanitarian programs run by the U.S. Agency for International Development. The agency has since been further dismantled through efforts led by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. The refugee camp Lubega visited and surrounding host communities abruptly lost $15 million in funds to provide food aid and services for more than 50,000 people. A federal district court has since ordered the Trump administration to resume disbursing those funds, but the money has been slow to return. Poetry Out Loud Contestants Contestants in the 2025 Poetry Out Loud National Championship, held May 5-7 in Washington. Standing tall The refugee camp experience informed Lubega's choice of poems to perform for the Poetry Out Loud competition. It also impacted her performance, especially when she recited 'I'm the People, the Mob,' by Carl Sandburg, a piece from the perspective of the battered and unseen movers of history. 'In that poem,' she said, 'I sort of channeled that pain and that hurt that I see certain people face.' Transforming profound suffering into a performance that wows isn't easy. But it wasn't overbearing for Lubega, who said she felt confident and had fun this time around. 'I had a lot more poise in just everything,' she said. 'I'm very happy that I was able to find that and channel that energy into a positive way and do better in the competition this year.' She left Washington with national recognition, a $5,000 third-place purse and an outpouring of support from her elders and siblings. Now, after New Mexico, she's returning to the Northeast to attend Connecticut College, a small liberal arts college in New London, Conn. There, she's set to study political science with a minor in African studies and a pathway in communications, rhetoric and media. But she won't soon forget New Mexico, she said. Nor will she forget the lessons and rituals that have guided her since childhood, including her mother's advice to stand tall. 'So I get up before I go on stage. I stand as tall and as great-postured as I can — and obviously everything in me is jittering — but I usually, right before they call my name, I take a breath, I pray, and I say, 'OK, let's lock in and let's go kill this.' '
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Local high school student named Iowa state poetry champion, advances to nationals
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — A local high school student has been crowned the state champion in poetry. Emma Oleson from Sioux City North High School was named the 2025 Poetry Out Loud Iowa State Champion during the state finals on March 9 in Des Moines. Kids under 16 no longer allowed at Southern Hills Mall unsupervised The Iowa Economic Development and Finance Authority's Iowa Arts & Culture Facebook page said Oleson earned $200 for her school and an all-expenses-paid trip to compete in the Poetry Out Loud National Finals in Washington, D.C, on May 5-7. This year is the 20th anniversary of the Poetry Out Loud program in Iowa. The arts education program encourages students in grades 9th through 12th to study poetry and compete in a recitation competition at local, state and national levels. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jefferson student Mikiah Gerrity to represent Illinois in national poetry contest
ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Jefferson High School student Mikiah Gerrity will represent Illinois in a national poetry competition in Washington D.C. Gerrity hasn't been reciting poetry for long, just over a year, but the Jefferson High School Junior said she connected to it right away. 'I felt like … I could connect to them and I could actually step into the shoes of the people that were in the poems,' she said. 'And I feel like the other people just kind of read it. But I felt like I actually knew the poem.' Now, Gerrity is the Illinois Poetry Out Loud State Champion, a competition of over 7,000 students. She will represent the state at a national contest in Washington D.C. 'I was like, I don't think I'm going to win. Like, I have not a lot of hope for this. And then I won. And I just kind of stood there like, I don't know how to feel about this,' she recalled. 'And I'm still not even feeling the significance of it. Like, when people are like, 'Oh, you're the state winner.' I don't even know how to feel about that yet.' Gerrity said she was encouraged to enter the competition by her speech coach, Jefferson teacher Doug McArthur. 'I knew she was awesome, but you couldn't be sure if that's what the judges wanted to see that time,' McArthur said. 'I think I almost jumped off the balcony when they announced her name. It was just a huge, huge moment. I still get a little goosebumps when I think about it again.' With the nationals just a month away, Gerrity says she hopes she can inspire others to take on challenges. 'I think people are too afraid of stepping out of their comfort zone. I think people are too afraid to try new things because they're afraid that it won't work out, but they can take it from my case,' she said. 'I didn't think that I would win, and I did. So just take the chance to do something different.' The Poetry Out Loud National Finals will be held from May 5th to 7th. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
