DOVER — From a competitive field of 12 Delaware high school students, Samuel McGarvey, a sophomore from Tall Oaks Classical School, earned the title of 2018 Poetry Out Loud Delaware State Champion at the state finals held in Dover on Feb. 27. The first runner-up was Dounya Ramadan from Newark Charter Jr./Sr. High School and the second runner-up was Richard Matthews from Dover High School.

Samuel McGarvey

Samuel’s final recitation, “I Remember, I Remember” by Thomas Hood, earned him high marks with the judges. The full poem can be found on the Poetry Foundation’s website at PoetryFoundation.org.

For his winning presentation, he will receive $200 and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington with a chaperone to compete at the national championship on April 23-25. Tall Oaks Classical School will receive a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry materials. Dounya Ramadan, the first runner-up will receive $100, and Newark Charter Jr./Sr. High School will receive $200 for its school library.

The Poetry Out Loud state competition, sponsored by the Delaware Division of the Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, is part of a national program that encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization, performance and competition.