Bena Rodecap From Grant High School Named Oregon’s 2025 Poetry Out Loud Champion; Gio Calandrella, Also From Grant High School, Named Runner Up (Photo) -03/10/25
Watch Rodecap’s performance and the moment she was named champion by Oregon First Lady Aimee Kotek Wilson, who attended the event. View and download event photos, also featuring the First Lady and Oregon Poet Laureate Ellen Waterston, who attended and performed at the event.
Gio Calandrella, a freshman who also attends Grant High School, was named runner up. Calandrella would be invited to represent Oregon in the national competition should Rodecap be unable to attend.
Rodecap chose to participate in Poetry Out Loud because she loves poetry and thanks teacher Ms. (Paige) Battle for her “tireless guidance.” She also likes to read, write and volunteer. The poems she chose to recite are “A Noiseless Patient Spider,” by Walt Whitman; “Say Grace” by Emily Jungmin Yoon and “How to Write a Poem,” by Laura Hershey.
“I chose poems that resonated with me,” Rodecap said. “I could immediately feel what the poet was trying to say.”
“I feel so honored and I am really shocked,” she said after being named champion. “I never thought I would win. I’ve loved poetry my entire life and this whole experience has been incredibly special.”
Calandrella spends his time acting, singing and doing other types of writing. He is currently in his school's musical and is the winner of da Vinci Arts Middle School's 2024 poetry slam.
“I am so inspired by the courage, tenacity and creative energy I saw on the stage at Poetry Out Loud!” said Cherle Ulmer, one of the judges at Saturday’s State Contest. “The students show they have the self-discipline to move mountains, great and small. Because of these dedicated students, the future looks a bit brighter to me.”
The other nine students who competed Saturday, after winning their school competitions and advancing from semifinals, are: Senna Alnasser, Oregon Charter Academy (Mill City); Gloria Flores Estrada, Oregon School for the Deaf (Salem); Josiah Gaither, St. Stephen's Academy (Beaverton); Josephine le Roux, Trinity Academy (Portland); Arianna Morris, Redmond High School; Kaydence Pope, South Medford High School; Sophie Roberts, St. Stephen's Academy; Madeline Torres, Lakeridge High School (Lake Oswego); and Dulce Wiles, Oregon Charter Academy.
A partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts, Poetry Foundation, and the state and jurisdictional arts agencies, Poetry Out Loud is a national arts education program that encourages the study of great poetry by offering free educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition to high schools across the country.
Note: Video by Allied Video. Photos by Bob Williams.
* * * * * * * * * * *
The Oregon Arts Commission provides leadership, funding and arts programs through its grants, special initiatives and services. Nine commissioners, appointed by the Governor, determine arts needs and establish policies for public support of the arts. The Arts Commission became part of Business Oregon (formerly Oregon Economic and Community Development Department) in 1993, in recognition of the expanding role the arts play in the broader social, economic and educational arenas of Oregon communities. In 2003, the Oregon legislature moved the operations of the Oregon Cultural Trust to the Arts Commission, streamlining operations and making use of the Commission’s expertise in grantmaking, arts and cultural information and community cultural development.
The Arts Commission is supported with general funds appropriated by the Oregon legislature and with federal funds from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as funds from the Oregon Cultural Trust. More information about the Oregon Arts Commission is available online at: artscommission.oregon.gov.
