Greer LeRoy picked two serious poems for the early rounds of the competition. 

So she wanted something a bit more fun for her finale.

“I wanted some variety,” Greer said. “I wanted the judges to have my full range of capabilities.”

So she chose Dorothy Parker’s “Love Song,” about a woman and her significant other, which has a crowd-pleasing twist at the end. 

“She loves him so much she wants someone to shoot him,” Greer said. 

The change of pace must have worked because the 15-year-old sophomore at Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School in Midland will advance to the Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest in Washington, D.C., from May 2-4, when she will compete for scholarship money.

This was the first year Greer’s school participated in the program after Melissa Potts, an English teacher there, organized it. 

“This is a wonderful competition because it marries the arts and academics so nicely,” she said. “Poetry is such an emotional art form, and it is truly wonderful to see young people getting involved in the competition and growing a love for poetry and performance.”

At Lincoln Park, Greer is a double major in theater and literary arts and believes that that background helped prepare her for the competition. 

“We have to try to tell the story of the poem,” Greer said. 

During the first round at Lincoln Park, about a half-dozen students competed. At the state competition, students from 14 schools across Pennsylvania performed.

Greer recited “The Second Coming” by William Butler Yeats and “The World is Too Much With Us,” by William Wordsworth.

In the ninth line of the Wordsworth poem, the work shifts and becomes almost an entirely different piece.

“Great God! I’d rather be

A pagan suckled in a creed outworn.”

It was there that Dan LeRoy, Greer’s father and the director of literary arts at Lincoln Park, saw his daughter excel. 

Ms. Potts attributed Greer’s success to her presence. 

"She is a natural at this. When she recites her poems, the emotion is so clear in her face and her voice that it gives me goosebumps every time,” Ms. Potts said. ”She has great articulation and volume. She also doesn't overdo her hand gestures so that when she does make a gesture it is really meaningful."

Despite how well Greer did, her dad said, there was ”no moment where you thought, ‘she’s got it in the bag.’

“At every stop, the competition was outstanding,” Mr. LeRoy said.

He is a strong influence on Greer’s interest in poetry. He has read poems to her since she was young and found his own interest in them in high school. 

“It’s something you want to pass on to your own kids,” he said. ”Hopefully, it sticks.” 

Greer just finished performing in Lincoln Park’s run of ”The Crucible” earlier this month, and she loves being on stage.  

“I don’t know if I’d have a career in it, but I would like to keep it up as a hobby,” she said. 

Paula Reed Ward: pward@post-gazette.com, 412-263-2620 or on Twitter: @PaulaReedWard. 

First Published: March 25, 2016, 4:00 a.m.