LEWISTON — Kyle Almquist, a junior, won the school-wide Poetry Out Loud competition held at Lewiston High School on Jan. 6. He competed against 11 other champions from among 28 classes and over 500 students who recited poems in their classrooms.

Second place went to Nairus Abdullahi, grade 12.

The other finalists were: Joshua Boisvert, grade 10; Jazlyn Dumas, grade 10; Jess Roy, grade 11; Cameron O’Brien, grade 10; Christian O’Brien, grade 11; Laronta Black, grade 11; Arissa Shaw, grade 10; Eric Brewster, grade 11; Brianna Hull, grade 10; Jan Adil, grade 10; and Courtney Caouette, grade 10.

Faculty participants were Esther Esther, Bre Allard, James Siragusa, Amanda Guy, Myranda Michaud and Marsha Fitzpatrick. Judges were Pat Spilecki, Whitney Whittaker, JoAnne Dowd, Rebecca Spilecki, Keith Levesque, Shawn White and Karen Choate. The videographer was Walter Gregg.

Kyle’s winning performance was comprised of two recitations: “Camouflaging the Chimera,” by Yusef Komunyakaa, and “Ozymandias,” by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Kyle will compete against 21 other schools at the City Theater in Biddeford at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 11.

More information about Poetry Out Loud is available at poetryoutloud.org. The program encourages the nation’s youth to learn about great poetry through exploration, memorization and performance. It takes place in every state, with millions of students participating.