Alexander Maggioni and Christian Lewis of Needham, sophomores at Boston College High School, finished first and second in the National Poetry Out Loud contest held on January 31 in the Gregory Bulger Performing Arts Center at the BC High campus in Dorchester.

Poem topics ranged from Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” to a moving recitation of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic."  The level of enthusiasm and support from the audience remained high for each orator, but Alex Maggioni’s recitation of "ADD", a poem by Rafael Casal, brought the listeners to their feet.  The poem "ADD" was a quick clipped story of a young child’s struggle with attention deficit disorder and his inability to fit into mainstream education.

Past BC High Poetry Out Loud winners joined this year’s judges of faculty and staff and chose Maggioni to send onto the Regional competition. Second place went to Christian Lewis and Kevin Koulopoulos of Scituate received third place.

The annual contest was created by the National Endowment for the Arts and Poetry project and students from all 50 states will compete for the National title to be held in Washington, DC this April. 

Boston College High School is a Jesuit, Catholic, college-preparatory school for young men founded in 1863.  The school enrolls approximately 1600 students from more than 100 communities in eastern Massachusetts. For more http://www.bchigh.edu