Press photo courtesy Charter Arts HSThe Pennsylvania Council on the Arts announced Monday that Isavel Mendoza, a senior theater student at Lehigh Valley Charter HS for the Arts, is Pennsylvania’s 2025 Poetry Out Loud state champion. Mendoza will represent Pennsylvania in the national finals held in Washington, D.C., May 5 - 7. Poetry Out Loud, a competition that works to encourage the study of great poetry, starts at the school level, then moves on to regional, state and national events. Mendoza won the Charter Arts school competition in December and went on to win the regional event hosted by ArtsQuest in January. As the POL state champion, Mendoza will receive $200 from the Poetry Foundation and an all-expenses-paid trip to the national championship. In addition, the school will receive $500 for the purchase of poetry materials. Above: Charter Arts Director of Literary Arts Kristin Liemberger; Isavel Mendoza, and Charter Arts theatre faculty member Diane Wagner.