First Lady Michelle Obama has appointed five high school students to serve as the 2016 class of National Student Poets.

The students were selected from a pool of more than 20,000 poetry submissions. They will serve as national literary ambassadors for the next year through service projects, workshops, and public readings. Each poet also will receive an academic award of $5,000, funded by the Bernstein Family Foundation.

“Together, these talented students are living, breathing proof of the power of poetry to transform young people’s lives,” said Mrs. Obama, Honorary Chairperson of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, at the White House Ceremony. “I have just one request to our student poets when you all leave here today: I want you to go out there and share your gifts with others. Show other young people the power of taking risks and opening yourself up to the world ... make sure the folks in your communities understand why it is so vitally important to have the arts in our schools.”

The 2016 National Student Poets include Stella Binion, 17, of Chicago, Illinois; Maya Eashwaran, 17, of Alpharetta, Georgia; Gopal Raman, 17, of Dallas, Texas; Joey Reisberg, 17, of Towson, Maryland; and Maya Salameh, 16, of San Diego, California.

This year’s panel of judges included Kwame Alexander, Jennifer Benka, Michael Earl Craig, Edward Hirsch, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Alice Quinn.

The President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities and Alliance for Young Artists & Writers founded the National Student Poets Program (NSPP) in 2011. The program also works with the Library of Congress, the US Department of Education, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. NSPP projects have included hosting writing workshops for Native American youth in North Dakota, LGBT youth at Out Boulder in Colorado, and Sandy Hook, Connecticut, among many others.

Related reading: The Washington Post reports that DC’s public library system is hiding hundreds of formerly banned books this month as part of a scavenger hunt that educates the public about censorship.

Photo Credit: Kevin Wolf/AP Images for Alliance for Young Artists & Writers.