CATA senior Melissa Stevens has moved to the state finals for the nationwide Poetry Out Loud competition. She is one of twelve students in New Hampshire to be named a finalist, following the first tier of competition which involved eight thousand students from across the state and the second tier competition which involved twenty-seven students from the eastern region. She has been coached by Beth Allard, an English teacher at CATA and CATA's Poetry Out Loud coach.

The Poetry Out Loud competition began in January with schools across the nation holding their own school-wide competitions. The winners from the school competitions were then sent to the regional competitions in early March (Melissa competed on Monday, March 8, at Southern New Hampshire University). Winners from the regional competitions move on to the state competition which, in New Hampshire, falls on March 20. The winner at the state level will travel (all expenses paid) to Washington, D.C., the end of April for the national competition.

The state competition is being held at Keene State College's Academy Recital Hall in Redfern Arts Center on Saturday, March 20, 2010, at 1:00pm. Tickets are free for the event and all are encouraged to attend to support the twelve New Hampshire students who have worked so hard to reach this level of competition.

Melissa Stevens is an avid writer, musician and artist. She has participated in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) four years in a row, designs jewelry and is an excellent actress who has been performing since the age of twelve. She plays flute, piano, piccolo, oboe and tin whistle, among other instruments. Melissa will be attending Gordon College in the fall.