(North Bergen—January 11, 2007) High Tech’s Riana Balahadia, Ruby Hankey and Kanglei Wang proved masterful in reciting poems in the school-wide competition of the Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest, and now Balahadia will move on to the second hurdle, the Regional Recitation, announced Principal Karol Brancato.

Fifty-five High Tech students participated in the two-hour school-wide competition, held in the Jay Todd Black Box Theater. Jersey City residents Balahadia, who recited Sylvia Plath’s “Fever 103°,” and Hankey, who delivered Joy Harjo’s “Eagle Poem,”  won first and second place, respectively.  Wang’s recitation of “Famous” by Naomi Shihab Nye garnered such praise that Wang, a Harrison resident, earned third place.

Since Balahadia captured the top honor, she will compete in the Regional Recitation Contest, whose location shall be determined later.  If she succeeds there, the State Recitation and the National Recitation Contest in Washington complete the hurdles.

Sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Poetry Foundation and State Arts Agencies, Poetry Out Loud employs a pyramid structure, beginning at the classroom level, followed by the school-wide competition.  As previously mentioned Regional, State and National Contests round out the remainder of Poetry Out Loud. 

Winners at the state level receive $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington to compete for the national championship.  The state winners’ schools also receive a $500 stipend for the purchases of poetry books.  State runner-ups earn $100, with $200 for their school libraries. A total of $50,000 in scholarships and school stipends will be awarded to winners at the National Finals.