Zachary High Student Wins National Endowment for the Arts Louisiana Poetry Out Loud Competition

Zachary High Student Jasmine Haynes recently competed in and won the Louisiana Poetry Out Loud competition. The State Finals were held earlier this month at the Louisiana State Museum in downtown Baton Rouge. A nationwide program created by the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Poetry Foundation, Poetry Out Loud encourages youth to learn and perform famous poems for competition against other teens, first in school finals, then in city finals and then in the state final competition. As the winner of the state finals, Jasmine has won the opportunity to advance to the national competition to be held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC where she will be competing in April, 2009. Award-winning actress Tyne Daly, Prairie Home Companion's Garrison Keillor, and poet Luis Rodriguez, among others, will judge the fourth annual Poetry Out Loud National Finals on April 28, 2009, in Washington, DC.