Borowski Nabs Poetry Out Loud Title

Jill Borowski should’ve been nervous.

After all, she was being asked to recite a 25-line poem in front of a live audience without notes. Yet, when the senior walked to the middle of the auditorium stage, something came over her.

“I had this confidence that wasn’t necessarily there beforehand,” she said. “I walked out and when I began reciting, I wasn’t thinking of the words. They were kind of just coming out. At that point, I felt very well prepared.”

Borowski’s confidence and preparation paid off, as judges named her the winner of the 4th Annual Poetry Out Loud event held Wednesday evening at Saline High School. Borowski bested 18 other students at the poetry recitation competition, a show put on by the high school English department and sponsored by the Poetry Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Borowski recited Robert Bringhurst’s poem “These Poems, She Said” to advance to the final round. Her rendition of Dana Gioia’s “Insomnia,” which event co-coordinator Shelly Venema called “phenomenal,” sealed the victory for the soon-to-be University of Michigan freshman.

“I was definitely nervous (while waiting for the results),” she said. “When they called the second place winner, I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh. That means I won.’ I was thrilled.”           

Students were judged  on, among other things, voice, accuracy, evidence of understanding and physical presence. As the winner of the event, Borowski received a $100 prize and qualified for the state competition in Saginaw on March 9-10. The state champion will compete for a $20,000 college scholarship at the National Poetry Out Loud competition in Washington, D.C., May 13-14.

“I’m excited for the state competition,” Borowski said. “I hope to move on to the national competition. I know that I’m going to have to step up my game big time because there are going to be some really good people at the state competition. With a little bit of luck, I think I have a good shot. I’m definitely going to give it my best effort.”

Borowski credited public speaking teacher Mary Converse for preparing her for the competition. Converse, who coached Borowski after school, challenged her to consider the meanings of her poems.

“(Converse) was trying to get me to think about the poem and what I wanted to portray in my poem, how I wanted to say it, what message I wanted the audience to take away from it,” Borowski said.

Venema and fellow English teacher Carolyn Kreple, who coordinated the school competition, said that the show was an “enormous undertaking,” from working with the student competitors to securing judges to managing the logistics of the event. Both agreed, however, that the extra work was worth it.

“It was a difficult program to put on. (The English Department) put in a lot of extra work,” Venema said. “But when I saw those kids up there, some with extended families in the audience, I knew it was worth it.”

Senior Rebecca Speiran placed second with her rendition of the poems “Ecology” by Jack Collom and “Constantly Risking Absurdity #15” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Sophomore Elianna Shwayder, who performed poems by Emily Bronte and Maya Angelou, finished third.