The first-round in the Poetry Out Loud competition begins on Jan.11 in the theatre at 6 p.m.

The process for entering includes signing up with Language Arts teachers Jeff Landow or Melissa Schumacher, who aid the competitors in choosing their poems and rehearsing them correctly.

Landow said, because the students are required to select their poems from a limited ist, many students end up choosing similar poems.

 Poems written by Edgar Allan Poe are often chosen because it’s fairly simple to express their deep emotion. To excel in the competition, one must be able to express the meaning of the poem.

Landow said, “Judges look for accuracy, inflection and comprehension.”

Students compete at Lafayette in hopes of moving on to regionals, state and nationals.

The incentive? The student who wins first place at Lafayette receives a Poetry Out Loud t-shirt and $40-50. The winner of the entire national competition wins $500,000 in scholarship money.

Any student in any grade 9-12 can enter the competition.

Ryan Schaeper, a second year competitor, said, “To win nationals would be really cool because it’s only my second time in the competition. Also, it would be an honor to see the other people who are competing at my level.”

“I decided to enter the competition because he never got a chance to take theater classes in middle school and wanted to share my love of poetry,” Schaeper said.

Each competitor chooses two poems from the Poetry Out Loud website.

Schaeper chose The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and The Luggage by Constance Urdang.

Schaeper said it was important to him to find one that rhymed and one that did not for diversity purposes. He said the most time consuming part was choosing the poems that relate to you.

 “I’ve spent about 12 hours altogether preparing for this competition. It averaged out to about an hour each night,” Schaeper said.

In preparation, students work with either Landow or Schumacher to rehearse and further understand their poems.

In Lafayette’s third year in the Poetry Out Loud program, Landow continues to sponsor the competition.

“I love poetry. I also love the blending of textual arts and poetry together,” Landow said.