# @edutopia on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CKpF0aelvkx
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/20303958-edutopia-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/788bf8a032.jpg
- **Posted:** 2021-01-29T20:19:10.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Edutopia (@edutopia) — https://gondola.cc/edutopia

## Caption

As a high school student, @amandascgorman learned from her @writegirlla mentors “that being a young female writer is an act of voice—loud, courageous, compassionate, and that [her] words shouldn't be written on a page just to stay there.” Seven years later, at 22 years old, Amanda became the nation’s youngest inaugural poet. ⁣
⁣
Amanda and other young women credit WriteGirl, a Los Angeles-based after-school program, with inspiring them to develop their voices as creative writers—skills that can boost their academic writing and confidence in the classroom, according to Rebecca Alber, a college professor who trains teachers. ⁣
⁣
So what’s the “secret sauce” from WriteGirl? Here are some insights from Amanda and her fellow WriteGirl alumni.⁣
⁣
📢 Speak Up: Growing up with dyslexia, Emily doubted her words and her writing. “Society taught me my voice was unimportant because I was a girl and my learning disability taught me to silence that voice completely,” writes Emily. “It wasn’t until I joined WriteGirl that someone taught me to speak up.”⁣
⁣
📈 Set Ambitious Goals: Before participating in WriteGirl, Jacqueline was afraid of sharing her dreams out loud. After several meetings with her program mentor, however, she opened up about her goals, such as pursuing a journalism career and attending college out-of-state. In her junior year, Jacqueline traveled to the White House to accept the National Arts and Humanities Award from Michelle Obama on behalf of WriteGirl. ⁣
⁣
🧡 Find Your Community: In WriteGirl, Amanda found “a home and family” that motivated her to marry her love for writing with her passion for social change. “Because of the remarkable women in WriteGirl, I know that being a young female writer doesn't have to be a silent act, clutching your pencil in a corner and softly writing the words you are too scared to utter,” wrote 11th grade Amanda, who became the first-ever National Youth Poet Laureate in 2017.⁣
⁣
Link in bio.⁣

#AmandaGorman #Poet #Poetry #AcademicWriting #AfterSchoolProgram

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 2,411
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 24

## Tags

afterschoolprogram, poetry, amandagorman, academicwriting, poet

---
Copyright (c) Gondola