LAMPLIGHTER
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Poetry Out Loud Adam Gray On Monday, January 23rd, Derryfield hosted the school wide Poetry Out Loud competition. Although to many it may have seemed to be merely contestants coming forward to recite their respective poems, there was actually quite an elaborate process that took place in both terms of performance and judging in order to make the experience unique. In essence, the competitors were judged in 6 areas: physical presence, voice and articulation, dramatic appropriateness, level of difficulty, evidence of understanding, and overall performance. Each of the six judges was then assigned one of these fields and was asked to evaluate all contestants accordingly. Rather than conferring to decide a winner, they all made their scores independently. At the end, all sheets were passed into Mr. Holland who acted as a human calculator, adding the all of the scores together to determine a winner. Yet Poetry Out Loud
was a competition of more than numerical supremacy. There are techniques that help a student to stand out. For students who did not make it passed the qualification round and wish to do better next year, Ms. Josephson informed Lamplighter about some of the mistakes students often make that could lead to a less than desirable performance. She said that students don’t practice in stressful settings enough before reciting. “Anything that gets your adrenaline going” will help you in the real experience. Also, students tend to “… minimize the expressiveness they use when they speak in front of an audience when in fact students should be more expressive.” Overcoming these fears and allowing yourself to perform freely will contribute to a better performance. The Upper School President Breanna Northrup MC’d the performance. She put a new spin on the somewhat traditional job. When asked if she had anything pre-
pared specifically for the event, she replied that she hates “…using scripts for virtually any performance. [Her] goal isn't so much to entertain as it is to just keep the flow of the performances going and to encourage the performers.” The environment was a friendly one that stimulated the audience’s interest through perpetual extemporization. Senior Sol Zhang also performed at the assembly. Although he was not judged, Sol has experience in this area and recited a compelling poem in Chinese. At the end of the assembly, Senior Leah Dewitt was declared the winner with “A Supermarket in California” by Alan Ginsberg. Alexander Michaud is Leah’s alternate, winning with “The Sun Rising” by John Donne. Lamplighter extends its congratulations to all of whom participated and we wish our winners the best of luck at the next level of the event.
Conservation Corner Con’t. a difference in response to overfishing, you can make an impact by being aware of where your fish are coming from and acknowledging that what you eat affects the world around you. In this situation, you, or maybe your parents, have the advantage over big fishing companies by having the power of choosing the fish you eat or whether
you want to eat fish at all. Overfishing is a threat to the environment as well as the livelihoods of humans for two main reasons: First, we are losing species as well as entire ecosystems. As a result the overall ecological unity of our oceans is under stress and at risk of collapse. Second, we are in risk of losing a valuable food source many depend
upon for social, economic and dietary reasons. The three most important things you can do is to be informed and aware, know what you eat, and spread the word. If you want more information, check out this month’s Conservation Club board by the senior hallway.