On March 17 and 18, Portola Junior-Senior High School sophomore Zion Dammons represented Plumas County at the statewide Poetry Out Loud competition in Sacramento. He qualified by becoming the Plumas County champion during the county competition Jan. 28 in Quincy.
For Dammons’ first-round poem, he recited “Invisible Children” by Mariana Llanos. In Round 2, which was held in an annex of the state Capitol, Dammons tackled the 19th-century poem “Life in a Love” by Robert Browning.
Although Dammons was not one of the five state finalists, he was one of 51 state-level competitors out of 18,000 students who began the journey at their initial level competitions. “Congratulations, Zion!” said Plumas Unified School District. “We are so proud of you!”
Dammons’ recitation can be viewed on YouTube starting at 1:28:41 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8po7hovM_Gk.
Information provided by Portola Junior-Senior High School