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Pike senior wins Indiana Poetry Out Loud Competition – Indianapolis Recorder

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Pike senior wins Indiana Poetry Out Loud Competition – Indianapolis Recorder


Indiana Humanities officially named the winners of the 2024 Poetry Out Loud state contest. The winners are Aalihya Banks – Indianapolis Pike High School student – in first place, and Kylah Hockemeyer – Columbia City Eagle Tech Academy – in second place.

“I feel speechless,” said Banks in a statement released by Indiana Humanities. “I didn’t think it would be me, but I was very excited that it was. I feel like all my hard work paid off.”  

The Poetry Out Loud event was held March 2 in Downtown Indianapolis and hosted 14 high school students. During the competition, students recited poems from an anthology book of more than 1,200 poems. Judges evaluated the students using multiple criteria, including voice and articulation, evidence of understanding and accuracy. This year’s judges were Indiana State Poet Laureate Curtis Crisler, Mitchell L.H. Douglas, Siren Hand, Hiromi Yoshida and accuracy judge Tony Brewer.

For her first-place win, Banks will receive $200 and Pike High School will receive $500 for poetry materials. As runner-up, Hockemeyer will receive $100 and Eagle Tech $200 for poetry materials. According to Indiana Humanities, Banks will also move on to the national Poetry Out Loud National Finals in Washington, D.C., between April 30 and May 2, where $50,000 in awards and school stipends will be distributed.

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“There was a lot of energy, and you could feel the nervousness, but you could also feel a lot of confidence and a lot of passion for the competition,” said Ana Bowman, communications manager for Indiana Humanities. Bowman also said she enjoyed seeing the camaraderie among the students, “They all seemed very supportive of each other and really just were happy to be together.”

The state contest is the culmination of months of work reading and analyzing poetry during the Poetry Out Loud (POL) education program.

“Poetry Out Loud is a national arts education program that encourages the study of great poetry by offering free educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition for high school students across the country,” Indiana Humanities said in a statement.

The POL education program in Indiana is presented in partnership with the Indiana Arts Commission (IAC), the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. Since it began in 2005, more than 4.4 million students nationwide have participated in Poetry Out Loud.

“Each year, Poetry Out Loud serves as a reminder of the powerful role that creativity plays in the classroom,” said IAC Executive Director Miah Michaelsen. “We are grateful for Indiana Humanities’ stewardship of this program and their work to provide a platform for young Hoosiers to share their voices.”

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Sarah Vilensky, a Pike theater teacher and Banks’s instructor for the POL education program, talked about how much she has seen Banks grow during the program. This was the third year Banks participated in POL, and, according to Vilensky, it showed. Vilensky said Banks has continuously improved her skills, eventually learning to analyze poetry without much guidance.

“She has grown as a person and an actor over the past four years, and even the first time I saw her do one of these poems was such a different woman than the girl who sat in my classroom as a freshman. The maturity that she brings to them, she’s really telling a story. She’s not getting up and reciting lines, she’s found the heart of the piece,” Vilensky said.

Contact Racial Justice Reporter Garrett Simms at 317-762-7847





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Indianapolis, IN

What we learned from Giants' 45-33 win over Colts

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What we learned from Giants' 45-33 win over Colts


Luke Hales/Getty Images

We all know that general manager Joe Schoen wanted to move up in last year’s NFL draft to take a top quarterback and failed. That was bad luck for him, at the time. What ended up happening is that LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers fell into his lap at No. 6. The football gods were looking down on the Giants.

Nabers has been the best of the rookie wideouts this year and has given the Giants a ray of hope for the future. Even though he’s missed games due to injury and has played through pain much of the year, Nabers has displayed exceptional all-around playmaking ability all over the field, giving the Giants the explosive, versatile player they so desperately needed.

“That’s why we drafted him, where we drafted him,” said Daboll. “I’ve been asked about it since training camp and I think the response has been, ‘He’s a pretty good football player.’ He missed two games and he’s battling through, I’d say, a pretty good injury with his toe. So, I think between him and (Tyrone) Tracy, for those guys to do it in a season like this with a variety of quarterbacks, I think that’s pretty impressive. They are the right kind of guys.”

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Indianapolis, IN

Pat McAfee eviscerates Indianapolis Colts franchise, Anthony Richardson, says he won't renew season tickets

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Pat McAfee eviscerates Indianapolis Colts franchise, Anthony Richardson, says he won't renew season tickets


Pat McAfee did not hold back when asked about his thoughts about the Indianapolis Colts after being eliminated from playoff contention. On X (formerly Twitter), the former Colts punter responded to a fan who wanted McAfee to talk about the Colts on his show Monday.

“I’ve said what I believed to be the truth about the team.. & a bunch of ‘Colts fans’ on the internet were trying to get me booed out of the city.. Current players, who have won nothing during their entire tenures, started using me and my face to try and paint me as the enemy in the city I’ve committed my life to,” McAfee wrote. “And in the end… everything went.. just like I f***ing said it would In the biggest moments everybody with a brain knew they’d crack.. and they did.”

McAfee went on to talk about Joe Flacco giving the Colts a better chance to win than Anthony Richardson. “When I said Joe Flacco gives us a better chance to win than AR immediately after the tap out.. I would’ve said whatever backup QB we had on the roster. That can’t be what the face of your team is doing.. just can’t be.. and to a bigger aspect of it all, somehow AR thought it was ok to do that. That’s a locker room issue.. that’s a culture issue.. thats an indicator of a loser attitude radiating thru a building that was built by greats.”

Pat McAfee continues rant against Colts

McAfee also said he’s not renewing his season tickets next year. “As a multiple year season ticket holder (not renewing).. and someone who has actively, daily, attempted to be an additive to this beautiful city. I hope they become a good franchise again.. this city deserves it.. the OGs in the Colts building deserve it (equipment managers, trainers, ticketing, PR, sales).. and on the flip side the players/coaches in that building deserve whatever happens to them. Your unwarranted arrogance, laziness, and lack of professionalism has lead you to ANOTHER early vacation… which is probably what most of you entitled bums have been hoping for.”

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On Sunday, the Colts lost to the New York Giants 45-33. Their record is now 7-9 on the year and will miss the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year. Richardson, who did not play on Sunday due to multiple injuries, has thrown eight touchdowns and 12 interceptions with a 61.6 passer rating in 11 games. He is execpted to be the team’s starting QB in 2025.



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Indianapolis, IN

Colts’ Taylor after elimination: Raise the standard

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Colts’ Taylor after elimination: Raise the standard


EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The Indianapolis Colts will miss the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season after what players characterized as an embarrassing loss to the New York Giants on Sunday.

The 45-33 loss to a Giants team that entered the game with the NFL’s worst record should prompt a re-evaluation from all of the team’s players and staff, running back Jonathan Taylor said.

The Colts allowed the most points in any meeting with the Giants since 1950 and gave up a season-high point total. That left many Colts stunned and silent.

But not Taylor.

“I think the standard has to be raised,” he said after a 125-yard rushing performance. “The playoffs have to be the standard. Those teams that get in year in and year out, that’s their standard. That’s the bottom floor. It’s like, ‘Listen, we’ve got to get in. And they know it’s tough but they say, ‘Hey, we’re going to fight, scratch and claw to make sure every year that is the standard that you uphold.’

“For us, 2020 was the last time we got in. We’ve got to get in. You’ve got to get in order to establish that standard. Like, ‘Listen, the Indianapolis Colts’ standard is the playoffs.’”

Indianapolis (7-9) entered the game with realistic playoff hopes after the Denver Broncos’ loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday. The Colts needed a win against the Giants and a win over the struggling Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 18 and a bit of help elsewhere to clinch the AFC’s final playoff berth.

But Sunday’s loss meant they failed to check the most important box in their playoff scenarios. The Colts have not won a playoff game since 2018 and have not managed an AFC South championship since 2014, when they advanced to the conference championship game.

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Sunday’s loss was the third time in four seasons the Colts had a must-win situation in the final weeks of a season and fell short. In 2021, the Colts inexplicably lost to the 2-win Jaguars in Week 18 when facing a win-and-in scenario.

Last season, the Colts played a home game against the Houston Texans in the season finale that would determine the division champion. Indianapolis lost that game, too.

Receiver Michael Pittman Jr. went to the postseason as a rookie in 2020 and hasn’t been back since, offering a hard-learned lesson.

“It’s frustrating, especially when my first year we actually did make it and I just thought, ‘Hey, every year, we’re going to do this,’” he said. “And I quickly have been humbled. We’ve just got to do something different. I don’t know what that is.”

The Colts watched Giants rookie receiver Malik Nabers put on a dominant performance, with seven catches for 171 yards and touchdowns of 31 and 59 yards. All told, the Giants put together six plays of 30 yards or longer.

Entering the game, New York had just nine such plays in its previous 15 contests.

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“Embarrassing,” linebacker Zaire Franklin called it. “It’s disappointing. Just flat out beat. What we put out defensively is just beyond acceptable.”

Now, the Colts face questions about what comes next. They brought back their roster nearly entirely intact from last season’s 9-8 team, banking on a slew of veteran re-signings in hopes of taking the next step.

Instead, they’ll finish with fewer wins and, arguably, took a step back. What will all of it mean for the roster, coach Shane Steichen, quarterback Anthony Richardson and eighth-year general manager Chris Ballard?

“Every year, every team is different,” Taylor said. “Next week, that’ll be the last time that all 53 guys are in that locker room.

“That’s the reality of the business. But when you have a season and it doesn’t turn out how you want, it could be more changes than usual.”

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