The following guest post was written by 2012 National Student Poet, Luisa Banchoff, with the below introduction by Virginia McEnerney, Executive Director for the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. The Class of 2017 National Student Poets will be appointed on Thursday, August 31, at the Library of Congress.
Inaugural Class of 2012 National Student Poet, Luisa Banchoff, has remained—as all our alums of the Program have remained—in close contact with us and their fellow alums since her year of service ended. As she will be abroad during the Class of 2017 Appointment Events, she reached out to us, and the incoming Class, with a beautiful letter of support, camaraderie, and introduction to the tight-knit poetry community into which the new teen poets will soon be inducted.
* * *
Hi there. My name is Luisa. Five years ago, I was, in one particular way, where you are now. I had received a phone call that summer telling me I had been selected as the first ever National Student Poet representing the southeastern United States. I was confused, flattered, scared. I had little to go off of other than the short program description I found online and the series of emails I received after that call. It took me a while to sort out the who’s, what’s and where’s of the NSPP. (Scholastic? IMLS? THE PRESIDENT’S COMMITTEE?) I quickly learned that, in a way, everyone involved in the Program was setting out into uncharted territory alongside me. The sense of building something from the ground up was both immensely intimidating and exhilarating.
One of the great things about the NSPP is that, though it is now in its sixth year, you have just as much freedom as I did back then. Yes, there are now five years’ worth of poets who have gone before you, but you need not take your cues from any of us. You have as much o