Great Hearts 2017 Bard Winner: Rebecca Perkes

bard¹

bärd/

noun

archaicliterary

noun: bard; plural noun: bards

a poet, traditionally one reciting epics and associated with a particular oral tradition.

4^th grader Rebecca Perkes won the 2017 Great Hearts Bard Competition, which gave Archway Glendale their second winner in as many years with her delivery of “Once More Unto the Breach,” by William Shakespeare.

The Bard Competition is a Great Hearts tradition that begins at the local level; each Academy selects a representative to compete in the network-wide competition.

4^th grader Rebecca Perkes won the 2017 Great Hearts Bard Competition, which gave Archway Glendale their second winner in as many years with her delivery of “Once More Unto the Breach,” by William Shakespeare.

The Bard Competition is a Great Hearts tradition that begins at the local level; each Academy selects a representative to compete in the network-wide competition.

“I worked for two months on my poem,” said Perkes. “And I was really nervous at the beginning when everyone else was saying their poems. I was kind of scared because a lot of them are really good at poetry,” Perkes recalled. However, her emotional performance scored her at the top and she was named the Great Hearts 2017 Bard Champion. “And I was like, YES!”

Archway Glendale’s Headmaster Jack Kersting describes Rebecca as a student who displays a remarkable depth of inquiry and profound appreciation for a deep love of poetry. “When you observe her fellow students listening to her recite any poem, what you see is students leaning forward, silently, eagerly listening, expecting to witness something very beautiful and moving.”

And there’s no doubt that Headmaster Kersting is proud of what his school has accomplished in poetry. “I am honored and humbled that our school competing against so many marvelous Great Hearts institutions has been so blessed to win the Great Hearts Bard two years in a row. We love great poetry here but I know we are not alone in the network; we will have to redouble our efforts if we expect to threepeat!”