Inauguration Poet A Familiar Face To Medford Students

MEDFORD, MA — Poet Amanda Gorman was the standout of Inauguration Day, but before she lit up the national stage, she was wowing students in a Medford auditorium. Gorman performed for McGlynn and Andrews eighth-graders in 2019, when she was a senior at Harvard University.

She recited her award-winning poetry and performed her own rap lyrics to an audience of 300 middle schoolers, challenging students to put their pen to paper and modeling how they could write their own poetry.

Gorman is the country's first Youth Poet Laureate. At 22, she is the youngest inaugural poet, reciting her poem "The Hill We Climb," which was written to inspire unity partly in response to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6.

Gorman was one of the most talked-about speakers at the inauguration as her recital began trending on social media.

Watch Gorman's recital below:

This story was written using information from the MPS Blog.