This is the first time that Indian Americans have made it to the prestigious program.
The White House has announced the names of five students selected for its prestigious National Students Poets Program and for the first time, Indian Americans made it to the list.
US First Lady Michelle Obama would welcome the budding poets, including Indian Americans Maya Eashwaran and Gopal Raman, at the White House on September 8, an official announcement said.
Eashwaran (17), who is from Alpharetta in Georgia, is representing Southeast region and Raman, who is from Dallas in Texas, representing Southwest region.
The other three are Stella Binion from Chicago (Midwest region), Joey Reisberg from Towson in Mary land (Northeast region) and Maya Salameh from San Diego in California (West region).
A first generation Indian-American, Eashwaran writes about foreigners, often incorporating personal experiences dealing with assimilation in the modern age.
Raman, a senior at St Mark’s Scholl of Texas, cites poets like Billy Collins, Wallace Stevens, and Walt Whitman as his inspirations and for him poetry distils images and emotions into a form that brings people together.
Since its inception in 2011, the National Students Poets Program has showcased the essential role of writing and the arts in academic and personal success for audiences across the country.
Each year, the five National Student Poets are chosen from a pool of outstanding writers, grades 9-11, who have received a national Scholastic Art and Writing Award for poetry.