Four high school students have been recognized for their appreciation of poetry. Three have been named New Hampshire youth poets laureate for the 2020-21 school year and one is the youth ambassador for Western New Hampshire. They work as a team to promote youth poetry in the Granite State.
Sara Kolli is currently a high school senior from Exeter with a passion for writing through poetry. Introduced to her as a freshman in high school, it has given her the ability to think and learn outside the box. Using poetry as a way to project her voice to share how she sees the world and engage in her community. This is through her work as the former Seacoast Poetry Ambassador under the PSNH Youth council and her future career New Hampshire state poet laureate and the vice president of her school’s poetry team, in which she encourages and leads youth throughout the state to write and perform poetry through workshops and events. Writing has helped her explore her worldview and fostered personal growth. Through her poetry, she has discussed identity, immigration, community and values. Having built up the confidence to stand in front of any crowd and speak about many issues through slam poetry, she has developed her own signature style and vastly improved her public speaking skills. She has utilized them to other aspects in her life, such as Model United Nations and even leadership opportunities such as class presidency. Her passion for working with others and helping them find their voice has garnered a strong interest in studying humanitarian or international law. In Sara’s free time, she loves hanging out with friends at the beach, painting, collaging and making video edits.
Elliot DelSignore is a senior at Souhegan High School, where he writes for the school’s student news site and edits for Souhegan’s literary arts magazine. While he’s been writing since the age of six, he only recently discovered his love for poetry. His work has been published in several online literary journals and magazines. As a N.H. Youth Poet Laureate, he hopes to draw attention to digital publishing opportunities for high school poets and help beginning writers find ways to improve and showcase their work. When he isn’t writing, Elliot also enjoys skiing, mock trial, volunteering, and art.
Felix Yeung is a senior at Phillips Exeter Academy. He is the managing editor of The Exonian, the oldest high school newspaper in America, and a former executive board member of Pendulum, Phillips Exeter’s literary and arts magazine. His writing has received an American Voices Medal and a National Gold Medal from the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. To satisfy his passions for law, history, and music, he participates in mock trial, choir, a cappella, and various historical research pursuits. As a co-Youth Poet Laureate, he hopes to work with poets of color to elevate Black, Latinx, and Asian voices.
Veronika Sokol is a junior at Monadnock Regional High School. She has been exploring various forms of poetry and writing from a very young age and aims to use her words to voice the struggles that this world faces. When not reading and writing poetry, Veronika is a volunteer at the Historical Society of Cheshire County, on the board of the Peterborough Poetry Project, a member of her high school choir, Destination Imagination, and the Monadnock Jazz Band as their lead vocalist. As the Youth Ambassador for the Western Region of New Hampshire, she hopes to spread her love of poetry to the youth in her community and leave a lasting impact on their futures.
The New Hampshire Youth Poet Laureate program is an honorary one-year position held by high school students who have shown a dedication to and excellence in writing, and who demonstrates the enthusiasm to share it with the public. The NHYPL serves as an ambassador who will heighten the visibility and value of poetry by and for young people in New Hampshire.
The program is coordinated by the Poetry Society of N.H., N.H. State Council on the Arts, and the New Hampshire Writers’ Project, in collaboration with the N.H. Poet Laureate.