Standup comedy and long, solo talks to the bathroom mirror got Stroudsburg High School senior Taha Vahanvaty to his place in the national finals of the Poetry Out Loud competition.
The competition asks students to perform three poems, reciting the author’s words with strict accuracy while demonstrating a personal understanding of the piece.
“It almost has to sound like their own words coming out,” said Shari Griswold, the English teacher who suggested that Vahanvaty enter the competition.
Vahanvaty won the school-wide competition this year and last year, earning a regional competition spot each time. The journey ended there last year, but he placed first in the state competition this year. Judging of the national competition starts Sunday; Vahanvaty will first find out whether he made the top nine, and then possibly his place within that group.
STAFF REPORT
Local students are leading the charge to raise money and awareness for cancer research.
In just seven weeks, students from eastern Pennsylvania raised $333,578 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society s 5th annual High School Fundraising Campaign.
Of the 33 high school students making up 16 teams that participated, three individual students from Monroe County raised more than $62,000 and were recognized by the Leukemia & Lymphoma society as students of the year.
Ashley Filipkowski, a student at Stroudsburg High School teamed up with Angie Espinoza of Pocono Mountain West High School and Alex Hafler of Pocono Mountain East to lead Team 3A. The team was able to raise the funds in just seven weeks.
The year 2020 ended in the Poconos with a teenager shot and killed by Pennsylvania State Police on an Interstate 80 overpass. Numerous protests, press conferences and discussions have since taken place.
Here s what reporters at the Pocono Record know so far about the death of Christian Hall. As we learn more, we ll continue to update this page.
Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020
After about an hour and a half of negotiation, 19-year-old Christian Hall was shot by the Pennsylvania State Police on a highway overpass near the Giant where he worked.
It would later emerge that Hall was having a mental health crisis. He had recently gone through a breakup, and he missed people he couldn’t see due to the pandemic, his family and lawyers have said. He had called 911 anonymously to report a possibly suicidal person.
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