Joy Carino of Starkville Wins for 2nd Year in a Row

The Mississippi Arts Commission is proud to announce the winners of the 2015 Poetry Out Loud Mississippi Finals held  on March 16, 2015 at Mississippi Public Broadcasting in Jackson. The contest, presented in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Poetry Foundation, is part of a national program to encourage high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization, performance, and competition.

For her second year in a row, Joy Carino was the winner of the Poetry Out Loud Mississippi Finals and will compete in the national competition. Joy is a junior at the Mississippi School for Math and Science and enjoys singing in her school’s choir and playing the piano for their jazz band and musical theatre productions. She loves music, reading, and expressing herself artistically. As the winner of the Poetry Out Loud Mississippi Finals, Joy will receive $200 and an all-expenses paid trip to compete in the National Finals in Washington DC.

Carys Snyder, a senior at Starkville High school, won second place. Carys is involved in track, cross-country, theatre, art, photography, and the Mayor’s Youth Council. She plans to attend Columbia University in the fall and major in either English or History.

Lawson Marchetti, a sophomore at Jackson Preparatory School, won third place. Lawson is an all-honors student who is active in Mu Alpha Theta, NHS, and the French, Drama, and Service Clubs. His greatest love, though, is show choir and he hopes to major in film studies in college.

Click here to learn more about Poetry Out Loud. The Mississippi Arts Commission is a state agency, funded by the Mississippi Legislature, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Mississippi Endowment for the Arts at the Community Foundation of Greater Jackson and other private sources. MAC is the official grants-making and service agency for the arts in Mississippi. The agency serves as an active supporter and promoter of arts in community life and in arts education.