Thomas is heading to the Minnesota state finals for Poetry Out Loud!

Thomas McPhee placed first at the 2010 Poetry Out Loud Lake Regional in Fergus Falls, and will go on to the state finals in the Fitzgerald Theater on Monday, 8 March 2010. This is the fourth straight year that at least one student from the Morris Area High School has qualified for the state finals in Poetry Out Loud.

Award ceremony at the 2010 Poetry Out Loud regional, Fergus Falls, MN
Award ceremony at the 2010 Poetry Out Loud regional, Fergus Falls, MN. Thomas McPhee (on far right) took first.

Last night was the 2010 Lake Regional competition as part of the national Poetry Out Loud competition. Morris Area High School (MAHS) had two students in the field, Thomas McPhee and Tim Ostby, and Thomas took first place! He and Ellen Ferry (who took second) will be among the 18 students from around Minnesota at the state finals in the wonderful Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, starting at 9:30am, Monday, 8 March 2010.

Thomas qualified for the state finals last year (along with MAHS student Alex McIntosh), so we had the good fortune to attend last year’s event. The quality of the performances was really exquisite, and I highly recommend the event to any fans of poetry and literature in the area.

Tim Ostby (the other MAHS student this year) placed fifth at the regional. Congratulations to him and all the other students that performed last night! While there were fewer competitors at the regional than last year, the quality of the performances was considerably stronger, and the venue (A Center for the Arts in Fergus Falls) was vastly better than last year’s (a classroom at a regional community college).

Thomas McPhee, David Johnson, and Tim Ostby at the 2010 Lake Regional for Poetry Out Loud
Thomas McPhee, David Johnson, and Tim Ostby at the 2010 Lake Regional for Poetry Out Loud. Thomas took first, and Tim took fifth.

A huge thanks to David Johnson, drama coach and english teacher at MAHS. Dave’s been a huge influence and support for Thomas in both theatre and Poetry Out Loud. It’s greatly to Dave’s credit that MAHS has had a student in the state finals of Poetry Out Loud each of the last four years (which is every year MAHS could have competed), with two in last year’s finals. Further, every MAHS student that’s gone to state has placed in the top 6: Anika Kildegaard took 2nd in 2007, Mary Hu won the state competition in 2008 and went on to the National Finals, and Alex McIntosh placed 4th and Thomas McPhee 6th in 2009. In fact Morris is the only high school in the state to place four students in the top 6 from 2007-2009, with no other school has placing more than two. Not a bad track record for a small rural high school. Thanks a ton to Dave for all his support and assistance!

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Twin Cities folks: Poetry Out Loud state finals on Monday!


In a bit of shameless promotion for our remarkable offspring, I’m putting in a plug for the Minnesota state finals of the national Poetry Out Loud competition. The finals will be Monday, 9 March, at 9:30am in St. Paul’s Fitzgerald Theater, and are free and open to the public.

The event will feature the 18 first and second places from the nine regions, each reciting one, two, or three poems depending on how far they get in the finals. Two of the 18 are from Morris: Alex McIntosh, son of Alisande Allaben (UMM Alumni Relations office) and Gordon McIntosh (UMM Physics); and Thomas McPhee. Having 11% of the finalists be from our little town is a pretty good showing, so we’ll definitely appreciate any Morris fans that are able to come out and join us.

Based on what we’ve seen getting this far, and what we’ve heard about past finals, the quality of the recitations should be really high. At the risk of being an immodest dad, I think that this should be a real artistic performance, and certainly not a painful “We’re only here for the kids” kind of experience.

The state winner goes on to the national finals next month in Washington D.C., with a chance to win a $20K scholarship!

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