VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Valley City High School and Maple Valley High School held their annual Poetry Out Loud competition on Tuesday, January 20. This is the second year the schools have hosted this competition in partnership. Poetry Out Loud is a national program that encourages high school students to read, analyze, memorize, and recite poetry.
Students earned spots in the school contest by winning their classroom rounds of poetry recitation in their English classes. On the VCHS theater stage on Tuesday afternoon, each of the six contestants recited two poems selected from the national Poetry Out Loud database.
The recitation rounds were judged by volunteers from the community and from VCSU. A special thanks goes out to Dr. Sharity Nelson, Mrs. Kyla Fetsch, Ms. Hadlee Mathias, Mr. Cameron Pero, and senior student Matthew Holm for volunteering their time to assist English teachers Ms. Cassidy Hoyt (MVHS) and Mrs. Kristi Shanenko (VCHS) in hosting the contest.
Senior Brooklyn Botz (Valley City) and Sophomore Raelynn Anderson (Maple Valley) were named school champions and will now advance to state-level competition at the Heritage Center in Bismarck on February 23, 2026, for a chance to advance to Nationals in Washington, D.C. Congrats to all on their hard work!
