HARRISBURG, Pa. — Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts has another reason to brag.
Months after alumna Shye Roberts came close to winning NBC's "The Voice" senior Isavel Mendoza has won a state competition.
The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) named Mendoza the 2025 Poetry Out Loud state champion.
Mendoza will move on to represent Pennsylvania in the national finals in Washington, D.C., the weekend of May 5. Mendoza will also receive $200 from the Poetry Foundation and the high school will receive $500 for poetry materials, according to a state news release.
“On behalf of the Council and staff of the PCA, I want to congratulate our 14 regional champions for their commitment, hard work and the commendable accomplishment of making it to the state competition," Executive Director Karl Blischk of the PCA said in a release. "I extend my very best wishes to Isavel as he goes on to compete at the Poetry Out Loud national finals.”
A total of 2,250 students participated in this year's competition — created by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation — which "encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization, performance, and competition."
In the competition, students memorize and prepare three poems from print and online poetry anthologies. They're judged on voice and articulation, physical presence, dramatic appropriateness, evidence of understanding, overall performance and accuracy, the release says.
All 14 students who made it to the championship performed in the first two rounds. Then the top five competed in the third and final round.
The 14 state finalists were:
- Esmé Ammons, B. Reed Henderson High School, Chester County;
- MacKenzie Bailey, Logos Academy, York County;
- Normandy Broaddus, Williamsport Area High School, Lycoming County;
- Alexis Brookhouser, Iroquois Jr/Sr High School, Erie County;
- Louise Burke, City Charter High School, Allegheny County;
- Ty Irwin Elensky, Curwensville Area High School, Clearfield County;
- Elizabeth Hoover, Newport High School, Perry County;
- Sulette Lange, Hazleton Area Arts & Humanities Academy, Luzerne County;
- Isavel Mendoza, Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts, Northampton County;
- Eden Newman, Milton Hershey School, Dauphin County
- Alexis Pontzer, DuBois Area High School, Clearfield County;
- Rowena Pruett, Ridgway Area High School, Elk County
- Jiselle Rios, Cocalico High School, Lancaster County;
- Eva Sanzi, Somerset Area Senior High School, Somerset County.
