Cydney Brown ’22 Named Philadelphia’s Youth Poet Laureate
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Cydney Brown ’22 Named Philadelphia’s Youth Poet Laureate
Cydney Brown ‘22, knew the summer of 2020 would be far from normal, but she was determined to rise against the challenges it presented. Cydney shared, “I really wanted something out of [this summer]. I said to myself, ‘I’m not going to as many places as I would like to, so why don’t I focus on my poetry?’ Now, I have a poetry Instagram account that I’m on all the time and it is connecting me with other writers and I really enjoy that.”
Over the summer, Cydney explored many opportunities to get her poetry out there and to grow as a writer. One of those opportunities was the chance to become the city of Philadelphia’s Youth Poet Laureate. She submitted her application, essays and pieces of poetry to The Free Library, which manages the program. On September 4, 2020, Cydney learned that she had been named the 2020-2021 Philadelphia Youth Poet Laureate. She is looking forward to holding a series of virtual readings and youth-led conversations in the year ahead, and expressed, “Poetry is such a big part of who I am and [it] helped me express my feelings, especially during this time…So if I could create a virtual space where people could come, learn how to write poetry and then be able to share it, that would just be the best.”
Civic engagement and working with children are not unknown to Cydney, who runs a youth mentoring program called Project G.O.O.D. (Girls Overcome Obstacles Daily), is active in the Girl Scouts and teaches younger kids tennis. You can learn even more about Cydney and her many gifts here.
