Gorman joined WriteGirl at the age of 14. During her high school years, she attended the monthly creative writing workshops at the group and volunteered for individual mentorship.
“WriteGirl has been crucial in my life. It’s thanks to their support that I was able to pursue my dreams as a writer,” Gorman said in a statement announcing her appearance at Biden’s inauguration.
Taylor describes Gorman as someone who made a big impression during her four years at WriteGirl.
“She has always been a very positive young person. Always with a flower in her hair, a sense of style, a sense of her creative energy and uniqueness in her body,” Taylor told CNN.
In her early days of the program, Gorman did not seek the spotlight. Taylor took some encouragement from her mentors to convince her to go to the microphone and share her work. And then she started flowering.
“I think she really started to enjoy the idea of seeing the reaction people had to her words,” Taylor recalls.
Find her voice
WriteGirl celebrates its 20th anniversary. The program serves about 500 teens annually. They work with mentors who include journalists, songwriters, poets and fiction writers. WriteGirl boasts a 100% success rate in helping its seniors complete high school and enroll in college. The organization publishes books on student writing annually and the publications have won more than 90 national and international book awards.
Gorman spoke to Anderson Cooper on CNN hours after she recited her poem “The Hill We Climb” during the inauguration. She credited her family, friends, supporters and mentors for their role in helping her achieve so much at a young age. She also mentions her WriteGirl experience, “where I got a lot of free creative writing resources when I was that skinny girl with a speech impediment who needed a mentor.”
“We do not want you to feel that you have something to fix because none of us have it,” Taylor said of their philosophy, adding that their focus is on encouraging young writers. “You could see her confidence blossom every time she got up at the microphone.”
When Gorman went to study at Harvard University, Taylor said that Gorman obstructed her speech “with revenge … [She] practiced and practiced until she changed the way speech impediment was heard for others. ‘
Step on the world stage
Taylor blinked, cried and went through a half-box of tissues, she said as Gorman took the stage at the inauguration.
“She was definitely nervous; you know she was. But she did not show it … One thing we always talk about at WriteGirl is turning that nervous energy into positive energy and moving you forward.”
For Taylor, Gorman was not only a representative of WriteGirl, but also young people, coloreds, and young poets.
‘They can see that young people’s voices need to be listened to, that they have a lot to say about where we are and where we need to go. And I was so proud of her for that. ‘