On February 22, 2026 at Eli Lilly Hall, FC Junior Mina Dioubate achieved state runner up in the Indiana Poetry Out Loud competition.

Second place receives $100 and the school gets $200 for purchasing poetry material. Dioubate didn’t expect to win 2nd, especially since she moved to FC only two years ago from Arsenal Tech High School downtown. 

Dioubate was referred to the event by Mrs. Laker. “She saw my performance for Creative Writing class…and insisted that I do Poetry Out Loud.”

Dioubate says she became interested in poetry a few years back. “I think I just wanted a way to express myself in almost kind of like a musical light.” 

When writing her own poetry she says she gets inspiration from some of her favorite poets like Elsa Gidlo and Mary Oliver. “ Sometimes just hearing other people’s poetry, spoken word artists; I, like, take little tidbits of the things they do and incorporate it into my own poetry.” 

Mrs. Bowman, who teaches English 10 and Dual Credit Speech here at FC, sponsors Poetry Out Loud.

Bowman said that, “With Mina doing really well, it was just all smiles. It was nice to have somebody work hard and see it pay off.” 

 According to Bowman, in Poetry Out Loud students pick a series of three poems, memorize them, and speak them. Bowman says that students have complete freedom when picking the topics of their set.

“I think anybody that likes reading poetry should try doing Poetry Out Loud…it focuses on being able to find the connections between these poems, but also the way that you speak them changes that meaning or enhances that meaning.”

Students interested can sign up for Poetry Out Loud next year in the fall.