Actions speak as loud as words

We were in the audience Wednesday when 12 Mat-Su Borough School District students took the stage for the first regional Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest in the theater at Colony High School. Poetry Out Loud is part of a national program that encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization, performance and competition.

But for audience members, the performance featured something priceless.

Often when we see competition bring Valley youth together in the same venue, division and old rivalries enter into the contest.

Not so in the Colony High theater Wednesday evening.

A dozen students from Colony High, Twindly Bridge Charter School and Burchell High School converged at the lone mic on stage and each recited two poems they had memorized.

Judges scored their efforts and the top local contestant — 15-year-old Whitney Winders — won the chance to represent the Mat-Su Borough at the state Poetry Out Loud contest in Juneau. The winner of that contest advances to the Poetry Out Loud National Finals on April 26-27, in Washington, D.C.

But long after we’ve forgotten the names of the top three local contestants — Jill Hazlitt, Magnolia Cook and Winders — we will remember their grace.

Competitors from three Valley schools sat down front in the first few rows. In little groups defined by allegiance to school and friends, they watched and listened nervously. It didn’t take long though before the students focused their nervous energy in a new direction.

“Good luck. You can do this,” one Burchell student leaned over and told a Twindly Bridge contestant sitting two seats away.

It didn’t matter that they were all competing for the same prize. It didn’t matter that these Valley kids go to different schools. It didn’t matter that none of them knew each other.

Grace ruled this day.

When Cook again battled her jangled nerves in round two, Kat Chudnofsky broke out the big guns: her good luck charm. Tucked beneath the teen’s bra strap was a large silver coin she told Cook brought her luck in the first round. She pushed the coin into her competitor’s hand.

Poised with her arms behind her back — one hand clutching a lucky coin — Cook recited “Fire and Ice” by Robert Frost.

Chudnofsky offered the coin to the next competitor, too. But Kendra McPhail declined, saying she didn’t have pockets and was afraid she would drop the coin while on stage.

But all the concern and care she offered her competitors came back to Chudnofsky when her nerves got the best of her and she forgot the lines to “She Walks in Beauty,” by Lord Byron.

Like the lead actress in one of those old John Hughes teen-age dramas, Chudnofsky fled the stage.

In unison, her Burchell classmates left their seats and raced to her side to offer their strength and encouragement.

A few minutes passed before Burchell classmate Lilith Shannon stood in front of the mic. She dedicated her final performance — “The Road Not Taken” — to her friend who was still struggling back stage to regain her composure.

Thanks to the generosity of the judges and the other competitors, Chudnofsky was granted a second chance to perform her poem.

As her final words hung in the air, the audience stood, clapping in appreciation for her show of inner strength and determination.

Congratulations to all these competitors and thank you for reminding us that grace always matters more than winning.