Nashville, TN (TN Tribune)–A Hillsboro High School senior who could be the nation’s next youth poet laureate wowed a crowd of school superintendents Thursday in Nashville.
Alora Young, one of four finalists this year for U.S. Youth Poet Laureate, performed a poem titled “All That I Know Now” for the Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents after MNPS’s own leader, Director of Schools Adrienne Battle, welcomed the audience and introduced her.
“I know many of you saw and heard Amanda Gorman, the former U.S. Youth Poet Laureate who performed at President Biden’s inauguration a couple of months ago,” Dr. Battle said. “Well, that might just be Alora in the spotlight the next time around.”
Young then showed why with her poised and passionate seven-minute performance exploring issues of race, justice, teacher pay, gun violence, the school-to-prison pipeline, and educational inequity. It drew a standing ovation from the superintendents, several of whom later approached Young and her mother with thanks and congratulations. Hillsboro’s executive principal, Dr. Shuler Pelham, and several other MNPS leaders also attended the event at a downtown hotel.
Young, who plans to attend Cornell University in New York this fall, said she “hopes one day to be the world’s greatest grandma/Supreme Court justice.” Watch her full performance below.
