A national recitation contest that allows students across America to give poetry a voice. It's called Poetry Out Loud, and a Lincoln teenager has made his mark as one of the best in the nation.

Two years ago, as a freshman, Justin Tolston was thrilled to finish in second place at the competition, but as a sophomore that silver didn't taste quite as sweet. After two runner-up finishes, Tolston was going to settle for nothing less than a state championship at this years competition.

Tolston is articulate, confident and polished, but it wasn't always this way. His journey to the top started in a freshman English class.

"We had an assignment I was dreading. It was to memorize a whole poem -- a whole poem. I was looking at it like this was the end of the world for me," said Justin Tolston, LSE junior.

As it turned out, it was just the beginning. The class voted on each other's presentations and a unanimous vote for Tolston's victory turned a dreading into a yearning -- a newfound desire to be the best.

This Spring, Tolston was awarded the state championship and his mentor was absolutely thrilled.

"We stood up and cheered because he had just done an outstanding job and clearly he was an outstanding competitor. He had really just achieved what he wanted to achieve, and we were really proud of him," said Ann Quinlan, LSE English Department chair.

For his efforts, Tolston will receive a trip to the national Poetry Out Loud finals in Washington, D.C. at the end of April.

"It's about me showing other people what I can do," he said. "When you're in the moment, you cringe, your muscles tighten up, your leg quivers -- it's crazy. You have so much control over what you do, it's like time stands still when I'm up there doing a poem. I want to keep my pace. It's like I have eternity to think about it and then it happens."

"I'm going to use this tool for my whole life. Whether I do something that has to do with poetry, literature or acting it's what I've learned from it and what I've gotten from it that's so amazing. Something I can use forever," Tolston said.

Although Tolston is just a junior at Lincoln Southeast High School, he will not get the opportunity to defend his title. That's because the 17-year-old student is a year ahead of schedule and he'll be skipping his senior year at LSE to begin college. He plans on majoring in political science and someday he might just use those verbal skills to become a politician.