Announcing the 2014 class of National Student Poets!

Today, the 2014 class of the National Student Poets Program (NSPP), the nation’s highest honor for teen poets presenting original work, was announced!

The five outstanding high school students appointed as National Student Poets are Weston Clark, age 16, of Indianapolis, IN; Julia Falkner, age 17, of Louisville, CO; Ashley Gong, age 15, of Sandy Hook, CT; Madeleine LeCesne, age 18, of New Orleans, LA; and Cameron Messinides, age 17, of Greenville, SC, each representing a different region of the United States. They kicked-off their year of service as literary ambassadors in Washington, D.C. with a poetry reading hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama in the Blue Room of the White House. 

“With this award, we celebrate the exceptional creativity, dedication, and promise of the young poets we honor today. Their courage, compassion, and imagination are inspiring others and shaping the world around them. As literary ambassadors to people across the country, these young people have the opportunity to set an example and inspire audiences of all ages with their written work, readings and service projects. Our National Student Poets and all of our young people have unlimited potential, and I can't wait to see what they accomplish in the years ahead,” noted Mrs. Obama, Honorary Chairman of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.

Meet the 2014 class of National Student Poets: 

• Weston Clark, age 16 of Zionsville, IN and sophomore at Park Tudor School in Indianapolis, has been writing poetry since he was in first grade. He initially wrote Shel Silverstein–style poetry and has enjoyed exploring other styles, including free verse. Weston was born in Indianapolis and now lives in Zionsville attending Park Tudor School. Through his writing, Weston tries to evoke emotions in people. He strongly agrees with Maya Angelou’s philosophy: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
• Julia Falkner, age 17, is a senior at Monarch High School in Louisville, Colorado. Most of Julia’s work is about adolescence, gender, and vulnerability. She co-runs her high school’s Writers Society as well as edits and produces the school literary magazine,B-Sides. Additionally, she absorbs as much art as possible. In the coming year she hopes to start a film project, read the collected works of Shakespeare, and complete a science-fiction novel. When she isn’t writing, Julia keeps a loaded AP schedule, plays electric keyboards and guitar, and runs cross country for her high school.
• Madeleine LeCesne, age 18, is a senior at Lusher Charter School in New Orleans, Louisiana. Madeleine began writing poetry when she was six years old. After her parents gave her an antique bed, each night she used the back of its headboard to scribble poetry into the wood. She lost this work in 2005, when the headboard and her home were washed away by Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans like her own identity is a blend of various cultures and bloodlines, so her work deals with unscrambling her identity and sparked an interest in genealogy as well as the city’s history. Among the writers she looks to for guidance are Anne Carson, Kimiko Hahn, and Anna Moschovakis.
• Ashley Gong, age 15, of Sandy Hook, CT is a junior at Newtown High School. She grew up surrounded by language, as her parents, first generation immigrants, would often read Chinese poems to her when she was a toddler. Despite this early exposure to poetry, her first venture into writing came in the form of prose. It wasn’t until more recently that she discovered her passion for poetry, which is currently her go-to medium for creative expression. She has learned to always keep a pen at hand, as she can often be found bursting into spontaneous spurts of poetry at any given place or moment. A junior at Newtown High School in Sandy Hook, CT, Ashley channels her love for writing, reading, reaching out, and leading into all aspects of her life, including instilling a love of Latin among middle school students.
• Cameron Messinides, age 17, of Camden, SC is a senior at South Carolina Governor’s School of the Arts & Humanities in Greenville, SC. A creative writing student at the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, Cameron was recognized with an honorary mention for the Leonard L. Milberg ’53 Secondary School Poetry Prize, and his work has been published on The Atlantic’s website. He lives in Camden, South Carolina, with his parents and five brothers and sisters, where, besides writing, he spends his time playing basketball, clumsily cooking dinner once a week, and helping raise the family goats.

During their tenure, the National Student Poets will lead readings and workshops at libraries, museums and schools throughout the country, as well as participate in prestigious events. They will additionally implement community service projects in their respective regions. The National Student Poets Program is a signature initiative of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the nonprofit Alliance for Young Artists & Writers.

Students in grades 9–11 who are interested in becoming 2015 National Student Poets can submit their work to the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, the nation’s longest-running and most prestigious scholarship and recognition initiative for creative teens. Deadlines for art and writing submissions vary by region.

Congratulations to these talented teen writers! See what they’re up to throughout the year on social media using #5poets, on Facebook or online at www.artandwriting.org/NSPP.