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Fog/Mist Riley Fried, Mepham High School senior, wows judges at regional Poetry Out Loud competition
Wellington C. Mepham High School senior Riley Fried took second place in the regional Poetry Out Loud competition on Feb. 3. Poetry Out Loud is an arts education program that encourages the study of poetry in high school students across the country at dynamic recitation competitions.
The competitions help bring out a student’s inner artist and performer by encouraging them to master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history and contemporary life. Since its establishment in 2005, Poetry Out Loud has grown to reach more than 4.1 million students and 68,000 teachers from 17,000 schools across the country.
Fried’s talent in interpreting and analyzing poetry, combined with her natural public speaking ability, helped her secure the impressive win.
For the competition, students are expected to select poems, other than their own, which are meaningful to them. They memorize these poems and focus on aspects such as their stage presence, voice, and articulation, conveying the meaning of the poem through its language and accuracy throughout their performance.
Fried recited three poems, with each having their own unique, significance to her.
Fried first preformed “Big City Speech” by W.S. Di Pier, because she liked the structure of it. Fried said it’s as though the author is writing a letter to the city that he lives in, with layers of emotional complexity.
Her second poem, “Charles Sumner” By Charlotte L. Forten Grimke, is a piece Fried wanted to challenge herself with because of its length, old English syntax and the poem’s exploration of grief.
Her third performance, “Flowers” by Cynthia Sarin, was selected because Fried said it sounded like the author was speaking to a loved one while having a casual conversation about flowers that he bought her.
Fried will now move on to the state competition on March 11 in New York City, where she will compete against other regional winners.
Fried is an active community member both inside and outside the classroom. She’s part of the school’s student-athlete leadership team, school choir, the Bellmore-Merrick Lady Sharks swim team, and the Long Island Aquatic Club. Her friends and family help to keep her motivated, she said, and provide emotional support through her busy days.
“I’ve just been doing as much as I possibly can, and it does get stressful — it gets very stressful,” she said, “but something that I find helps is surrounding myself with people who also go through similar things.”
Fried said she was first encouraged to compete on the advice of her English teacher Nicole Maresca, who is also the lead teacher for the Poetry Out Loud program. When Fried first competed, she did not place in the competition. Although Fried felt a little discouraged after the loss, Maresca convinced her to enter again.
“Riley has a natural ability to captivate an audience with her poise and confidence,” Maresca said. “Watching Riley recite poetry for a live audience was a real treat.”
From a young age, Fried was surrounded by literature and literary references under the guidance of her mother, who’s also an English teacher. As she grew older, Fried learned to mix the craft of writing and expressing her emotions, but it wasn’t an easy start for the young poet.
As a child, Fried said she was closeted about her emotions and writing. “I wouldn’t necessarily want people to know that I felt the way I did,’” Fried said, “because I didn’t want them to take it as vulnerability.”
As she continued to write and express herself more freely, she realized that writing and exploring her feelings was a form of strength.
“It is a manner in which you can kind of show yourself and be who you really are in front of other people.” she noted. “It’s something that a lot of people can’t do.”
Although it took time, self-discipline, and perseverance, Fried eventually learned how to be comfortable with herself. “I need to trust who I am and trust what I feel and understand that people won’t judge me for that,” she said. “And if they do, then they don’t deserve to hear how I feel.”
