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 regional Gold Key winners 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 2024!
Marcus Burns grew up in the town of Lyme, New Hampshire, with his father from Brooklyn, New York, and his mother from Huế, Vietnam. For years, he’s loved exploring the woods and the brook by his house and school. In seventh grade at Crossroads Academy, Marcus was taught to analyze the works of Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, and W. B. Yeats, among others, by his English teacher, Mr. Glazer. He especially fell in love with the poetry of Robert Frost, setting a school record for memorizing thirty of his poems. His work is very relatable to Marcus, as much of it was written about the area he grew up in and mirrors his own experiences of the natural world. He’s since continued his love for poetry at St. Johnsbury Academy in Vermont, with the encouragement of his English and Creative Writing teachers: Mrs. Mackenzie, Mrs. Jolliffe, and Mrs. Drew. ▪
Robert Gao is a senior at University Laboratory High School. Nationally recognized by the national YoungArts Foundation, Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, Alliance for Young Writers, and The New York Times, his work appears in The Adroit Journal, The Lumiere Review, and Best Teen Writing 2022, among others. He is a 2023 poetry alumnus of The Adroit Journal’s Summer Mentorship Program and serves as the Poetry Editor-in-Chief for The Metaphysical Review.
Sofia Kamal is a rising senior from Phoenix, Arizona. She attends Rancho Solano Preparatory School, where she takes part in the National Art Honors Society, Mu Alpha Theta, and her school’s literary magazine. Her writing and visual art have been recognized by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, YoungArts Awards, and Tempe Festival of the Arts. In addition to writing, her interests include drawing, painting, and music.
Anya Melchinger is a rising senior from Honolulu, Hawai’i. She values poetry as a form of expression because of its ability to invoke complex emotions in a way that is both beautiful and concise. Her poetry often draws on her personal experiences with family, identity, and mental health. In particular, she often likes to focus on the stories that have been passed down to her and the ways that they intersect with her present-day life. Anya writes to communicate anything she wouldn’t be able to say otherwise, and she hopes that one day she will be able to inspire others to do the same. She loves reading the pieces of other young writers at Polyphony Lit and her school’s own literary magazine, Ka Nalu Ola. In her free time, she enjoys walking dogs, pressing the return key, having lunch with friends, and trying any medium of art she can get her hands on.
Born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi, Nadia Wright is the embodiment of a scholar and creative. She is a special honors AP student at Murrah High School, two-time recipient of the Gold McMullen Scholarship, and winner of thirty Scholastic Art & Writing Awards in two years, including an American Voices & Visions Nomination and a national Silver Medal award. Through her nationally acclaimed writing and visual art, Nadia aims to chronicle black existence’s complexities, understand life’s intricacies, and record her journey. Her love of her black culture and black literary greats such as Toni Morrison, Kiese Laymon, and Jesmyn Ward have paved the way for her unique writing fashion. Discovering black literature was the greatest revelation of her life and she aims to be written in the book of melanated greats. After graduation, she plans to attend an HBCU to immerse herself in her culture and community. Nadia is extremely family-oriented and many of her poems are inspired by her most cherished loved ones. Most importantly, Nadia aims to create change in the black community and to be a voice for every disenfranchised, oppressed, and ignored sista and brother.