Lewiston High School senior Joao Victor won the State of Maine 2019 Poetry Out Loud finals March 11. An asylum seeker from Angola, Mr. Victor speaks seven languages. He bested nine other finalists from around the state, including last year’s champion, Allan Mongo, who is an asylum seeker from Zambia, and was this year’s runner up. Mr. Mongo is from Deering High School. 4,300 students competed in earlier rounds of the competition. Mr. Victor will compete in the National Finals April 29-May 1 in Washington, D.C.
