The Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers partner to present the National Student Poets Program (NSPP), the country’s highest honor for youth poets presenting original work. Five outstanding high school poets whose work exhibits exceptional creativity, dedication to craft, and promise are selected annually for a year of service as national poetry ambassadors. 

National Student Poets are chosen from among the National Medalists in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards with input from a jury of established poets and leaders in education and the arts. Throughout their year of service, the Poets will serve as literary ambassadors and will share their passion for poetry, literacy, and the literary arts with their communities and throughout their regions. This will be done through activities that include service projects, workshops, and public readings. In addition, each Poet will receive a $5,000 academic award. 

Let’s Meet the Class of 2023! 

Jacqueline Flores is a rising junior from Zolfo Springs, Florida. She currently attends Fort Meade Middle/Senior High School and takes honors classes as part of the National Honor Society. She began writing poetry in the eighth grade but only became serious about it in her freshman year of high school, when her leadership teacher, Selden Spencer, encouraged her to keep writing. Jacqueline’s poem, Dear “The United States of America,” received a Silver Medal in poetry in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. In her writing, Jacqueline wants to share a perspective that hasn’t been heard yet or has been routinely silenced. She hopes to represent Mexican-Americans all around the United States, and “to stand for our parents.” Her goal is to help others see what she sees, through the eyes of a Mexican immigrant.  

Miles Hardingwood is a poet, writer, activist, and creative from Brooklyn, NY. He is a 2022 NYC Youth Poet Laureate Ambassador and has attended both the Kenyon and Iowa Young Writers programs. His poetry has received a Scholastic Art & Writing Awards National Gold Medal and an American Voices Medal, and he has performed at venues such as Federal Hall, the Schomburg Center, the Brooklyn Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Vice President Kamala Harris’s Black History Month celebration. He enjoys exploring the intersection between personal identity and social change and always tries to use art to make a difference, on both an individual and a societal level. He currently attends Hunter College High School and is vice president of their Black Student Union. He also co-founded PASSWord, Hunter’s poetry and slam/spoken word club, and is constantly looking for ways to build community through writing. He has volunteered with Gallery Players Theater and The People’s Theatre Project and was a District 39 youth fellow, seeking to better his community through politics, activism, and service. 

Shangri-La Hou is a Chinese-American poet attending John Burroughs School in St. Louis, MO. Her love for poetry grew out of her appreciation for nature and the diverse life that she encountered growing up in three states: Florida, New Mexico, and Missouri. As her relationship with writing evolved, she was captivated by its power to both carry and inspire emotion. Her work centers around themes of family, heritage, love, nature, and discovering how her experiences and passions inform her identity. She is a winner of the 2022 Wednesday Club of Saint Louis Junior Poetry Contest and a recipient of a Gold Medal and two Gold Keys in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, and she was published in Canary—A Literary Journal of the Environmental Crisis. 

Kallan is a queer and trans poet born in St. Louis, MO, and currently living in Norman, OK. Kallan attended Oklahoma Arts Institute as a creative writing student in 2022, where they developed the confidence to write about their experiences as a trans athlete and artist. Kallan uses poetry to initiate healing conversations about identity in relation to found family, trans joy, and human/environmental interactions. Kallan plays soccer (goalkeeper), does theatre (both crew and acting), and enjoys experimenting with different mediums of art and playing guitar. Kallan loves attending orchestra and band concerts, cooking without recipes, and walking new routes with friends. 

Gabriella Miranda, born and raised in Salt Lake City, UT, is a rising senior at Rowland Hall. Her adoration for creating and enjoying written work stemmed from the support of her family, one that has generously given colorful, animated readings at bedtime and frequent visits to the library. Gabriella centers her work around depictions of human relationships, the complexities of looking for connection, and what it means to build an identity from the foundation of another’s. Within the creative writing program, she has been an editor of her school’s literary magazine since her freshman year and currently serves on a national editorial board that generates content about youth advocacy. Gabriella hopes to continue to connect with others who appreciate and breathe life into the platform of the written word.