Sofia Rivera took first place in the state Poetry Out Loud competition after reciting three poems at Mankato State University Feb. 21. But this isn’t her first rodeo. Rivera advanced past School and Regional Poetry Out Loud competitions in 2024,

“I think [Poetry Out Loud] was just a really beautiful coalition of all the things I love to do,” Rivera said.

Her passion for English, writing, theater, and dance contributed to her interest and ability in the area: “I love the stage. I’m an extrovert. I love talking to people. It was just kind of a really perfect little thing for me to do. “

However, her love for poetry was the driving cause in her attraction to Poetry Out Loud.

“I love to write poetry, especially as it has always been a really big part of my identity and personality,” Rivera said.

This passion drove her to participate, even though unlike last year, there was no school competition. This meant Rivera had to coordinate on her own with her coach, Ms. Joyce, meeting with her during their shared free period.

In order to prepare, Rivera had to work from a different angle than usual.

“I’ve always been on the writing side of it so
I never really was exposed to recitation,” she said.

The Poetry Out Loud competition can seem confusing at first, as determining what makes one reading of a poem better than the other may not make sense. This was Rivera’s perspective last year, as she didn’t know what to expect her first time competing. But after seeing other peoples performances last year, she understood scoring and judging more.

“I think it’s really about internalizing the message of the poetry. Some people really treat it as just reciting poetry, and not reciting their own story, and I feel like that’s where the faults come in, because it’s really important to actually understand what [the poem is] saying,” Rivera said.

In Rivera’s opinion, the most important judge category is evidence of understanding. She argues that without understanding, conveying the emotions and giving the performance a genuine feel is not possible. “I try to make [performing] it as authentic as possible and just try to make it sound like it’s coming from me and as how I speak to my friends or my teachers and my parents, whatever, the audience is,” she said.

In order to achieve this, Rivera had to really get to know her poems. At regionals she performed “the world is about to end and my grandparents are in love” by Kara Jackson and “Tomorrow” by Dennis O’Driscoll. At state, she performed those two along with “Revenge” by Letitia Elizabeth Landon.

“I analyze [the poem] like I’m an English class and really understand, if there are certain, double meanings or something that I should be really playing into,” Rivera said. She worked to memorize and make the poems her own. “It really just came to drilling it, so I think my parents got really sick of it by the end because I was just in the car at home and it really became a part of my daily routine.”

Rivera will be taking the stage in D.C. this May for the National Championship.

Updated 4/3 to add details of Rivera’s involvement in the competition last year, change the featured image and update the story teaser.