Like any presidential inauguration, Joe Biden’s event featured a star-studded lineup. Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, and Garth Brooks performed, the now-famous Bernie Sanders mitten meme was born, but an unexpected invitee stood out the most—her name, Amanda Gorman. The Harvard-educated recipient of the 2017 National Youth Poet Laureate Award appeared, by the merit of her composure, much older than her age of 22 years. She stood at the mic and delivered a five-and-a-half-minute poem with no trace of anxiety, fear, and no indication that the moment was too big for her. At the end of her delivery, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. MoniYah Person-Henderson ’23 recounts her experiences watching Gorman deliver her poem saying: 

“Watching the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris had to be one of the best things I could’ve ever witnessed. When Amanda stepped onto the stage, I felt so excited and happy. Seeing someone like me delivering a poem almost brought me to tears, she was beautiful! This is a moment in history for many Black girls across America and something I will never forget.”

Dr. Kathryn Malone shared an eloquent response. Explaining what Gorman’s poem meant to her personally and to the nation, she said:

“Watching Ms. Gorman’s radiant delivery of her powerful love poem to the nation we shared, had me in tears, tears of joy and catharsis.  Her voice harkened back to the legacy of Phyllis Wheatley and innumerable, all too often, silenced voices since then, who have persisted in their love for and belief in all that the United States promises it can be, and in their determination to work to make this nation live up to those promises.  What a gift to us all moving forward.”

Gorman’s impact on Inauguration Day was incredible, but to the poetically inclined among us, she had been on a rising trend for years. She was chosen as the Youth Poet Laureate of Los Angeles in 2014, and in 2015, she released the poetry anthology The One for Whom Food Is Not Enough. In 2016, she founded the nonprofit One Pen, One Page with the intention of helping underserved students realize their writing and leadership potential. She has read her poetry to open the literary season for the Library of Congress, read poetry on MTV, had a poem displayed at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City in 2018, was the first-ever National Youth Poet Laureate in 2017, has stated a desire to run for President in 2036, an aspiration supported by former Secretary of State and Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and has two unreleased books that are already on the Amazon bestseller list. In addition to her poetic achievements, Gorman has served as a youth delegate to the United Nations after being inspired by a speech by Malala Yousafzai; add it to her already long list of achievements! At just 22 years old, the sky is the limit for Amanda Gorman. She knows that she can do great things and after hearing her speak, it’s impossible to disagree.