LC’s very own Kierston Carson placed in the Top Five at the Annual Poetry Out Loud Competition conducted March 3 and 4 in Charleston, WV.

Carson, a senior, made it through the preliminary rounds and made it into the Top 10.  She then made it to the Final Five.

Carson won the school competition for the past three years; however, this was the first year she was able to compete at the state level.

Carson deferred her title her sophomore year to allow then-senior Penelope Petre to compete since it was her last year to compete.

Carson selected three diverse poems to recite.  Students had to recite one poem with fewer than 24 lines, one that was pre-20th century, and one that was longer than 24-lines.

Contestants recite poems from a selected list.  They are judged on delivery, accuracy, level of difficulty and presentation.  The evaluation is not to be overly dramatic with too many hand-gestures and acting.  Rather, participants are asked to deliver the poems with inflection and power in the spoken word.

For her final poem, Carson selected Robert Burns’s “To a Mouse” to recite.  Carson said the poem with a Scottish dialect that particularly impressed the judges.

According to her coach, Mr. Doug Seckman, Carson was only one of two students to make it to the Final Five on her first try at the state competition.  Many of the finalists had been in the competition for the past three years.

Seckman said he was especially proud of Carson who has been practicing her poetry for the past several months.