HCPSSOakland Mills HS Student Named Inaugural Howard County Youth Poet Laureate
October 9th, 2024
Oakland Mills High School (OMHS) junior Mai-Anh Nguyen has been selected as Howard County’s first-ever Youth Poet Laureate. Nguyen was formally appointed to the position by County Executive Calvin Ball, having received the unanimous support of a review panel composed of members of the Howard County Poetry & Literature Society (HoCoPoLitSo) and the Howard County Arts Council. Nguyen was recognized for her “demonstrated sophistication, skill, and knowledge of contemporary poetry.”
“Being named the Youth Poet Laureate of Howard County—and the first one, at that—is an honor that I will continue to be extremely grateful for. To have been chosen as a representative for something that has always meant the world to me is a childhood dream come true,” Nguyen says.
Poetry has been a lifelong passion for Nguyen, who says that her work is “inspired by and centered around all the confusing feelings of adolescence.”
“Poetry is an art form that is so fundamentally human; even with today’s advancing technology, poetry has remained something that is both unmistakably and inimitably human. To me, poetry is the metamorphosis of human language to something otherworldly, a feeling or message that transcends the individual. That which cannot be illustrated with paint or explained through prose is laid bare in poetry,” Nguyen adds.
“Mai-Anh is a creative scholar who sees the world through a lens that invites us all to think about life differently,” says OMHS English teacher Amy Brooks, who taught Nguyen in 9th grade. “Her poetry is a much-needed pause in the daily hustle of life. As the first Howard County Poet Laureate, she will be an amazing advocate for other young writers to lean into their own gifts.”
As Youth Poet Laureate, Nguyen will serve a one-year term as an arts ambassador, helping to coordinate readings and literary events in Howard County.
Howard County’s Youth Poet Laureate program was launched in 2023 in partnership with the Howard County Arts Council and the Howard County Poetry & Literature Society (HoCoPoLitSo). The program aims to amplify the power of youth expression, celebrate community, and promote literary arts in Howard County.