Photo by Nathan Ta
San Gabriel High School Poetry Out Loud finalists compete at the district level
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Finalists from Alhambra, Mark Keppel, and San Gabriel High School were put to the test at the Poetry Out Loud district competition on Oct. 20 at Alhambra High School.
In order to get to where they were at, competitors Sarah Arellano, Emily Au, Alyssa Bao, Austin Chan, Jessica Chau, Alyssa Chow, Ryan Chow, Cristian De La Cruz, Dana Gil, Marina Goita, Mark Li, Brandon Lien, Judy Luu, Selina Martinez, Justine Mejia, Amanda Molina, Joshua Morelion, Alyssa Ngu, Yungtong Ou, Azucena Pacheco, Cris Ramos, Elise Sandoval, Jerry Tran, Evelyn Valenzuela, Elsie Wang, and Stacey Zu must have been chosen at their respective school competitions in order to reach the district event.
The competitors were judged by Jeff Bowman,Tracy Cordell, Nicole Hamilton, Ricky Perez, Jessica Sandercock for their performance of the poem, and Kristin Keenan for their accuracy of the poem.
Molina expresses how words from a poem “holds so much power” for her.
“Poetry, whether is it a piece that I have written or a piece by another poet, [is] a way for me to better understand myself and make sense of things that are happening to me or around me,” Molina said. “When you really connect with a poem it is a truly beautiful experience. When I get on that stage and perform ‘El Olvido’, I feel deeply connected to it every single time. I think about my culture and where my roots are, and as the words come out, I feel this surge of feelings that cannot be suppressed.”
After a moment to add up the scores, the judges concluded that Molina was the victor of the tournament.
“When I heard my name called my heart stopped. I had a lot of butterflies in my stomach, but as soon as they said that I had gotten first place, they seemed to fly away,” Molina said. “I was really excited and I just in awe because all the other competitors were extremely talented.”
Molina will move on to the L.A county competition on Feb. 1.
