Harvey Students Make Poetry Come Alive

The entire student body and staff of The Harvey School gathered Thursday for what has become a ritual prior to the spring recess, a celebration of the spoken word as 19 finalists in the Michael Lopes Poetry Recitation Contest performed their poems before a packed house in the school’s Lasdon Theater.

The contestants from grades 6-12 faced the pressure of having to impress three judges and perform with their parents in attendance. When all was said and done, the judges chose 8th grader Jo Jo Greenwood as the winner of the Middle School competition. Selected as the Upper School winner was freshman Emily Sirota.

Jo Jo delivered a poem called “B” by Sarah Kay, known for what is called “spoken word poetry.” Jo Jo said she chose “B” because she discovered it in a book of poems that the poet had personally autographed for her. “I was really nervous about performing it,” said Jo Jo, “but once I was up at the podium I forgot all about my nervousness.” She said she will place the trophy she won for the poetry contest next to her soccer trophies in her bedroom.

Emily won the Upper School trophy for her rendition of “I Wanna Hear a Poem” by poet and playwright Steve Colman. Emily said she chose the poem because she had heard it performed by others before and wanted to interpret it in her own way. “I practiced it over and over until it just came naturally to me,” she said. One line stands out as her favorite: “I wanna hear a poem where ideas kiss similes so deeply that metaphors get jealous.” Asked what she thought when she heard her name announced as the winner, Emily replied, “I was very, very surprised because other people were really good.”

Two other middle school finalists, 6th grader Alex Breitenbach and 8th grader Kiersten Wittmann, were selected as Honorable Mentions. Senior Karina Lambert earned Honorable Mention in the Upper School competition.

English teachers Alex Lindquist and Deborah Matero shared the emcee duties. Two of the judges were John Jay High School head librarian Lauren Carrigan and her husband, Thomas Carrigan, a librarian as well and a published poet. The third judge was Belinda Roth, the Interim Executive Director of the Katonah Museum of Art.

The poetry contest involves the entire student body as all the students perform their selected poems in English classes. When semi-finalists are chosen from each class, the English Department then selects the finalists who perform their poems before the large assembly on the Thursday of the last week of school before spring recess, in keeping with school tradition.