Students excel in poetry competitions

Students have spent months practicing the delivery of their memorized poems, making sure their body language, voice and articulation, and evidence of understanding the piece resounds with judges during their performances at recitation competitions this year.

Four Fayette County students, two at the elementary level and two at the middle school level, wowed judges with their poetry recitations, advancing from their school level contests to the county competition, and then on the Griffin Regional Literacy Days Competition where they earned top placements.

McKenna Wright took first place in the fourth-grade division, and Cutter Hayes secured third place in the fifth-grade division. Both students are from Braelinn Elementary.

Two middle school students placed third in their divisions. They are sixth-grader Skylar Smith from Flat Rock Middle and seventh-grader Sydney Powell from Bennett’s Mill Middle.

The judges rated the students’ performances on stage presence, articulation, interpretation, memory and accuracy, movement of feet, and difficulty of the piece. Students could earn extra points for fluency, gestures and expressions.

The Griffin RESA Regional Literacy Days Competition is for students attending schools in the Butts, Fayette, Henry, Lamar, Newton, Pike, Spalding, and Upson county school systems.