Senior Kira Amels competed at the state Poetry Out Loud competition on March 15, where she took second place.

“She competed against 24 students,” Amels’s Creative Writing teacher and coach, Jeff Hoefs, said. “She got second place and I think it was only a matter of points.”

Amels started learning her first two poems in January with the help of Hoefs and “Poet Jim” Ciletti. After winning the school competition on Feb. 29, Amels had to learn one more poem for state. The poems she performed at state were “Novel” by Arthur Rimbaud, “The Legend” by Garrett Hongo and “Very Large Moth” by Craig Arnold.

“Kira was perfect on her poetry; it’s the best I’ve seen her do,” Hoefs said. “She could have won it, but she got second and sometimes that’s just how life goes. You plan and work hard and sometimes you still lose, but I’m proud of her. She performed well under the pressure.”

The national Poetry Out Loud competition will be held May 2-4 in Washington D.C.