Eight students in grades 9-12 competed in the Shaker High School Poetry Out Loud Recitation Contest on January 10th. In what might have been the strongest competition in Shaker’s 18-year history of participating in the national contest, Akshaya Annam, Christina Cheng, Jennifer DeSantis, Tehreem Fatima, Maeve Hisgen, Helen Powell, Ashanti Samuels, and Troy Serao memorized and recited two poems from the Poetry Out Loud anthology. Shaker English Department teachers Siobhan Matrose, Maureen Livingston, Jay Deierlein, and Shannan Lanahan judged the recitation contest. Former Shaker student (’23) and Poetry Out Loud participant Kamellia Barrett also served as a judge. Powell and DeSantis were selected to move on to compete at the regional level at Hudson Valley Community College on February 13th. Congratulations to all of the contestants who made it through auditions to the school finals, and good luck to Helen and Jennifer as they represent Shaker in the further rounds of competition.