By Kayla J. Marsh
Staff Writer
HOLMDEL – For Eileen Huang, a local resident and a sophomore at High Technology High School in Lincroft, poetry was not something she thought would have such a significant impact on her life.
“I’ve been writing since I was really young, but I’ve always written like short stories or fiction,” she said.
A trip to her middle school library made a big impression on Huang.
“The reason I was inspired to do poetry was because I found an anthology of poetry and there were all these poems from people from 100 years ago to even now, and I just really had a great time reading those and found that poetry wasn’t so boring,” she said.
“It was a way for me to start a new hobby and I have definitely delved into the poetry world a lot more and absolutely love it.”
Huang will talk about her love of poetry and how it has led to some of her favorite experiences at the TEDxNavesink 2016 Makers conference at Monmouth University April 9.
“The topic that I am covering this year is how I use poetry to have this journey of self-discovery and how poetry and writing has affected me and how it has changed my perception of myself,” she said.
“By using poetry, because it is such a free and liberating form of expression and creativity, you don’t have to confine yourself to these certain standards and I hope to inspire people to look at things from a different perspective and get out of their comfort zone.”
The annual TEDxNavesink conference will feature talks by 30 students, educators, technologists, startups, artists and entertainers from around the globe.
The conference was launched in 2013 and is dedicated to education, community, innovation and “ideas worth spreading.”
“I’ll also be talking about my personal experience with poetry and what I have learned from it and sharing some aspects of poetry I find really unique to the art form,” Huang said.
“I think the best thing about poetry is that you can take those seemingly meaningless moments in life and write them down in your own experience and your own words and you get to put this almost mystical, really wonderful quality in it.”
For Huang, the inspiration to write comes from many outlets.
“I am definitely inspired by a lot of things, but I think mainly I am inspired by my Chinese heritage and a lot of other cultural norms that I observe,” she said.
“When I was in the seventh grade, my parents sent me to boarding school in China and I was pretty much there alone for an entire semester. And that experience of being one of the only Americans in my class and just not understanding what was going on and just adopting to the different culture there … had a big impact on me so recently I have been writing a lot of poetry about that and China.
“Most of my poetry is about things in real life that I happen to find interesting and want to remember.”
A submission to a local writing competition opened up a new door for Huang when she was selected to serve one year as the 2015 Northeast Region National Student Poet.
“I wrote this one poem and thought I should submit it to a writing competition … and got a notification that I was a finalist for this National Student Poet program … and I am really still not over it now,” she said. “It is probably one of the most life-changing experiences I’ve had so far.”
One of her favorite memories so far of being a National Student Poet was the chance to meet First Lady Michelle Obama.
“That was such a surreal experience,” Huang said of her meeting last year. “It was really amazing. When we got to the White House and were waiting, I was just like, ‘is this even happening.’
“She encouraged us to keep writing and … it was probably one of the best experiences in my life so far.”
As one of five National Students poets, Huang will lead readings and workshops at libraries, museums and schools in her region and community as part of a yearlong community service effort.
“The National Student Poet program allows us to go on a lot of different trips and meet … very talented people who do this for a living and who are so inspiring, people who I look up to,” she said. “I really hope the talks and readings I do can encourage people to keep writing or to try it if they haven’t.
“I’m surrounded by great literature education models and also great science education models, but before this honor I never really considered going into a writing or liberal arts profession, but now it has opened up so many new doors for me and I realize I don’t have to box myself in anymore.”