Righetti High School students compete at county-wide poetry competition

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – Three Righetti High School students competed at the 2023 Poetry Out Loud Regional Competition for Santa Barbara County with one contestant, Junior Lucas Hsiung, winning first place and advancing to a state competition.

Sophomore Samantha McDonald and Junior Natalie Lancor also recited poems at the competition held last week in the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors building.

Hsiung's winning poem was "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley.

“Lucas is an 11th-grade 4.0+ student on the varsity swim team but he has never done anything like this in his life," English teacher Kristen Kurth detailed. “He gained an interest in poetry after the poetry writing and recitation assignments in Honors English during his sophomore year, but he never thought it would lead to anything outside of his class assignments. Now his confidence in public speaking is soaring and he is about to compete at the state level for Poetry Out Loud!"

In honor of Hsiung moving into state-wide poetry competition and in the words of Henley,

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul.

"Invictus" by William Ernest Henley