Elizabethtown High School student named state runner-up in poetry contest

Elizabethtown High School senior Rush Clagett says he had never had much of an interest in poetry prior to his class’s involvement in the Kentucky Poetry Out Loud competition.

“I did a competition inside my classroom and I did well in that, and then I won the school-wide competition and I was just like ‘I’ll see how far this goes,’” Clagett said. “I’ve never really done anything poetry-related before so it was really interesting and challenging.”

The journey eventually took Clagett to the Poetry Out Loud State Championship, which was held at the Farish Theater in Lexington this past weekend. Clagett recited three poems as part of the competition, and ultimately was named the competition’s runner-up.

“I was a little surprised,” Clagett said. “I thought I was going to place a little lower. I had an unexpected mess-up in the final round, but I was really happy that I was able to get something like that, and in band and in pretty much anything else I’ve done academically, I’ve never gotten something like state runner-up. That’s my highest achievement so far, and I just think that’s really cool.”

Clagett said before the competition he was more interested in nonfiction and writing, but the experience gave him a new appreciation.

“I’m happy I did it,” Clagett said. “I was pretty out of my element at first, but eventually I realized that I’m semi-good at it, and I had a lot of support from my teachers and my classmates and my parents about all of it. It was overall just a really great and challenging and new experience.”

Claggett said after graduation he plans to attend the University of the Cumberlands.