Of 310,000 competitors, senior Emily Bauer qualified to go to Washington, D.C. on April 25-26, 2017 as one of nine students in the Poetry Out Loud Finals.

“It felt so crazy. Before Nationals, I had watched hundreds of YouTube videos of past champions in the competition just to get myself familiar with [Nationals],” Bauer said. “It felt incredible to be real and in front of me.”

Bauer was not awarded any money; only the first place student was given a prize. Additionally, Bauer was not informed  where her performance placed in Nationals; the judges only announced first through third place.

“[Ending] was so crazy but also very relieving. It felt really good coming home knowing I would stay in contact with these wonderful people from all over the country,” Bauer said.

Jane Chu, the Chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts, was one of the two judges at the  competition.

“We know that these students have made it to the Poetry Out Loud National Finals through hard work, talent and confidence, but also with the support and encouragement of their teachers, peers, families and states,” Chu said. “Whether it’s a classroom competition or the national finals, it is always a joy to see the students’ enthusiasm for poetry and dedication to expressing the poems’ beauty and meaning to the audience.”

Bauer’s coach for Poetry Out Loud, english teacher Andria Benmuvhar, runs POL for the school.

“For me, this opportunity led to lots of pride and excitement. I was extremely proud of Emily because I saw all the hard work and time that she put into this. I believe she represented West well. It was exciting because I had the chance to be immersed in a celebration of poetry with people from across the country,” Benmuvhar said.

Since 53 students were accepted into Nationals annually, many of them had the experience of making it to State or Nationals last year; Bauer was a rarity competing for the first time.

“A lot of the champions were sophomores and juniors that had already won state last year, so I had actually seen them perform before,” Bauer said. “It was really incredible because all of the state competitors were there for the same reason. Everyone just wanted to spread this love for poetry and art, so I made 52 new friends.”

Georgia student Samara Elán Huggins won the title of 2017 National champion and the grand prize of $20,000.

“Anybody [at Nationals] could have deserved any place. It would have been so hard to judge, because everyone was a state champion and we were all there for the same purpose. When it got down to it, it didn’t matter what place or how much money we won. Just the experience that we all took from it was so life changing,” Bauer said. “Every single student was just as important as the other, and I just loved how positive they all were. With the friendships we built, we could only be happy for the kids moving on.”