Schooled: The Podcast

Amanda Gorman electrified the audience at President Biden’s inauguration in January with her poem “The Hill We Climb.” Many have commented on the impact her poem has had — especially with young people in her audience. That was the same spirit behind a nationwide contest inviting young people to write their own inauguration poems, started by English teacher Seth MacLowry and the Academy of American Poets. The judge of that contest, Richard Blanco, was himself an Inauguration Poet, for President Obama in 2013. In this episode we talk about the value of poetry in school and in society with MacLowry and Blanco and with this year’s student contest winner, Hallie Knight.