Five high school students were chosen as National Student Poets by a jury recently and read a selection of their work at a White House ceremony on Sept 18 and gave an encore performance in the Library of Congress, ArtAndWriting.org reports.
First lady Michelle Obama, center, stands with student poets during the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities poetry reading in the Blue Room at the White House. The event honored the 2014 National Student Poets, with the nation’s highest honor for teen poets presenting original work. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
The student honorees, from left to right in the photo, are:
- Cameron Messinides, 17, Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, Greenville, S.C.
- Madeleine LeCesne, 18, Lusher Charter School, New Orleans, La.
- Ashley Gong, 15, Newtown High School, Sandy Hook, Conn.
- Julia Falkner, 17, Monarch High School, Louisville, Colo.
- Weston Clark, 16, Park Tudor School, Indianapolis, Ind.
The student poets will hold readings and workshops at libraries, museums, and school across the US.
Ms Gong read an excerpt from her poem “Allegro”:
we are all vagabonds
somewhere inside, nomads
who move against the plate
tectonics, who graze
the ripe syllables of words
for breakfast and who know
that home is not where the
heart is, but where the heart longs to go
