A panel of judges awarded first place in The Country School’s 60th Anniversary Lois MacLane Poetry Recitation to Phineas Scott, a sixth grader from Haddam. Phineas won the top honors for his masterful presentation of Wilderness by Carl Sandburg.
First held on April 26, 1957, the Lois MacLane Poetry Recitation was created by David T. MacLane, the school’s first headmaster, in honor of his sister, Lois. Each year since 1957, the entire student body has selected, memorized, and recited a poem before an audience. The youngest students recite in groups, and starting in Kindergarten, they recite individually. In Grades 5-8, the recitation is juried, with the top reciters from each grade selected to compete in the finals.
This year, 25 students competed in the finals. Judges, who included previous MacLane winners and finalists, parents of former finalists, and a former Head of School, awarded second place to eighth grader Livi Redding of Branford, reciting I Had a Guinea Golden by Emily Dickinson. Willa Wurzbach, a fifth grader from Killingworth, was awarded third place for her recitation of Wild Geese by Mary Oliver.
Among the other finalists were Andre Salkin from Old Lyme, grade 8, and Philip Warren from Old Saybrook, grade 5.
The Country School is a coeducational, independent day school serving students in PreSchool-Grade 8 on its 23-acre campus in Madison.