Maggie Walker demonstrated the uniqueness of the student body yet again as Mallory Phillips (‘23) placed in the top three at the Poetry Out Loud regional competition!

From a young age, Mallory Phillips has been interested in spoken word, and in particular, the Poetry Out Loud competition. As a kid, they recall viewing the annual PBS broadcast of the competition with their mother, and the pandemic proved to be a spectacular opportunity for Mallory to discover their love for poetry recitation.

As co-president of the Slam Poetry club at Maggie Walker, Mallory believed that participating would be a “great opportunity to promote poetry and poetry competitions within the school.” Inspired by the various interpretations that they watched growing up, Phillips was able to fulfill their wish of participating in the Poetry Out Loud competition this year.

For preparation, they selected pieces from the Poetry Out Loud anthology, which they later memorized and presented at the school-wide, regional, and state competitions. For their performances they recited “A Blessing” by James Wright, and later “Respiration” by Jamaal May at the regional level.

In the regional round, the competition was formatted in a hybrid manner, and video recordings of the recitations were submitted instead of a fully in-person performance. However, for the state round, the competition was televised, taking place in a professional studio. As the professionalism increased, so did the stakes of the competition.

Several faculty members contributed to Mallory’s success. They received guidance from English teacher Mr. Ed Coleman, who helped them to pick out the perfect poems to recite. From the other end of the hall, Librarian Ms. Wendy DeGroat and English teacher Ms. Leigh Glatt assisted Mallory as well. Mallory remarks that the teachers helped them to understand different interpretations of the poems, which further allowed their performances to become more nuanced.

Although Poetry Out Loud may be over, Phillips’ poetry journey will not stop here, as they will continue to share the love of poetry throughout the halls of Maggie Walker. For National Poetry Month, the Slam Poetry club is holding several events throughout the month of April, where Phillips will most definitely be performing and reciting poems alongside other students.