A student from the Lathrop school district has won the Northwest Regional Title in the Poetry Out Loud competition.

Nick Eldredge goes on to the state competition March 21 in Jefferson City, and hopefully to the National Finals in Washington, DC.

Four students from Northwest Missouri including Eldredge, Kristin Hall (home school), Megan Render (Lafayette High School), and Suncirae Merritt from North Daviess R-III competed in the regional finals hosted by the Allied Arts Council on February 28.

The first runner-up was Megan Render from Lafayette.

Judges Simon Barbosa, Cathy Ketter, Ann Weston and Cheryl Wood presided over the competition and evaluated student performance on criteria including physical presence, evidence of understanding, level of difficulty, and accuracy.

Poetry Out Loud is a national arts education program that encourages the study of great poetry by offering educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition to high schools across the country. Poetry Out Loud uses a pyramid structure. Beginning at the school level, winners advance to a regional competition, then to a state competition, and ultimately to the National Finals in Washington, DC.

The competition was presented by the Allied Arts Council in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Foundation, the Missouri Arts Council and Missouri Association of Community Arts Agencies.