HVA student competes in national poetry event
The 2026 Tennessee Poetry Out Loud (POL) champion is Sarah Williamson, a student at Hardin Valley Academy in Knox County. And as the state champion, Sarah will participate in the POL national finals on April 27-29, 2026, in Washington, D.C.
Champions from each state will perform in one of three semifinals on Tuesday, from 9 a.m. to 8 p. m. The top three students from each semifinal group will move on to the Poetry Out Loud national finals on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Poetry Out Loud will award a total of $50,000 to students and schools at the national finals, including a $20,000 award for the national champion.
The state competition was held on February 28, 2026, at the Center for the Arts in Murfreesboro. This was Sarah’s first time competing in Poetry Out Loud.
“I love the art of poetry; the way that words fit together to be interpreted and performed, resonating with people’s emotions and experiences,” said Williamson. “Despite the nerves, I love performing and am thrilled to represent Tennessee at the national competition!”
“Through Tennessee’s Poetry Out Loud, students cultivate not only powerful public speaking skills but also invaluable self-assurance and a profound connection to our rich literary traditions,” said Jenny Boyd, who chairs the Tennessee Arts Commission.
The National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Tennessee Arts Commission presented POL 2026. The program seeks to foster the next generation of literary readers by capitalizing on the latest trends in poetry, recitation and performance, building on the resurgence of poetry as an oral art form.
Photo courtesy of Randall G. Spradlin
In Memoriam: Dr. Pat Zingg found her calling at PSCC
Dr. Pat Zingg
Sarah Patricia Zingg Ph.D. passed away on March 20, 2026, at age 74. She was a longtime chemistry professor at Pellissippi State Community College.
A colleague at Pellissippi, Maggie Jenkins, said Pat was “much loved.” And a student evaluator wrote anonymously: “Dr. Zingg is my favorite professor of all time. … Organic 1 and 2 are hard classes, but she makes it very doable. She knows how to teach, and she’ll do anything to help! If you have her, consider yourself lucky. I still tell everyone how wonderful she is.”
Pat, as she was called by family and friends, was born on April 25, 1951, in North Georgia. She studied chemistry at University of Tennessee Knoxville and began pursuing her doctorate degree at University of Georgia Athens where she met her husband Derrick “Rick” Zingg in 1974.
In 1980, after finishing her doctorate at the University of Pittsburgh, Pat returned to East Tennessee to set up roots, taking a job at Oak Ridge National Laboratories and raising two children – Matthew and Whitney. It wasn’t until Pat became an organic chemistry professor at Pellissippi State Community College that she found her true calling, according to her obituary, here.
Friends and family have established a scholarship in her memory at Pellissippi State – the Dr. Patricia Zingg Health Sciences Endowed Scholarship. Make donation here.
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