On February 15, Wayne Valley High School Junior, Erin Matthews represented Wayne Valley High School at the Poetry Out Loud Region 6 recitation contest. She competed against students from Passaic, Bergen and Hudson counties. She won three rounds and was crowned the regional champion. She will move on to the State competition on March 12th at Ocean County College where she will compete for an all expense paid trip to Washington, DC to compete in the national competition.

Poetry Out Loud is a national poetry recitation contest sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts. The program encourages students to learn about great poetry through recitation and helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history and contemporary life. Since 2005, Poetry Out Loud has grown to reach more than 3 million students and 50,000 teachers from 10,000 schools in every state, Washington, D.C., the US Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.

This year, Wayne Valley High School participated in a school-wide contest which included 384 students. English teacher, Catherine Smith, organized the contest. Eight English teachers: Stephanie Cielusniak, Melinda DelPizzo, Christina Damelio, Erica Foster, Cindi Hannon, Catherine Smith, Alison Solomon and Jeffrey White conducted classroom contests and sent class winners to the school- wide competition.