Knights Recite the Greats at the Eighth Annual Bard Competition

This week, Northridge celebrated the eighth annual Bard Competition, a beloved tradition in which students selected by their teachers memorize and recite poetry before their classmates and a panel of judges. From Shakespearean soliloquies to epic verse, this year’s competitors brought an impressive range of work to life.

The overall high school winner was Tomas Roth, who delivered a stunning recitation of all 116 lines of G.K. Chesterton’s “Lepanto.” That is no small feat, and his performance earned him the top honor of the competition.

High school grade-level winners were:

• 12th Grade: Max Herbster, “Blackberry Picking” by Seamus Heaney
• 11th Grade: Ben Vasquez, “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe
• 10th Grade: Ian Macfarlane, “Is this a dagger which I see before me?” by William Shakespeare
• 9th Grade: Pierce Spencer, “Columbus” by Joaquin Miller

On the middle school side, James Anastasi took the overall title with a commanding recitation of Shakespeare’s “Friends, Romans, Countrymen” speech. Middle school grade-level winners were:

• 8th Grade: Will Galluzzi, “I Have a Rendezvous with Death” by Alan Seeger
• 7th Grade: Santi Wasserman, “Ulysses” by Alfred Lord Tennyson
• 6th Grade: Declan Finlay, “The Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll

Committing great poetry to memory is a worthy challenge. Congratulations to all who participated and especially to our winners!