Tara Prakash is 18 years old and has already performed on the stage at the Kennedy Center.

She’s not a musician, but a rising senior at Sidwell Friends School. Prakash was recently named Maryland’s first-ever youth poet laureate.

Prakash, who lives in Chevy Chase, said she learned about the honor while on stage at the Kennedy Center in May. Prakash told WTOP, her parents had been informed ahead of time, and kept it secret to surprise her. When she heard her name coupled with the words “Youth Poet Laureate” for an entire state, she told WTOP, “I was like, I can’t be hearing this right!”

Prakash had previously been named the Montgomery County Youth Poet Laureate, a term that runs until December of this year. For Prakash, the joy in poetry is in the sharing of words, plus images and the feelings they can evoke. Moving from poetry on paper to performance was something that took some practice,

She said, “I don’t really go in with a competitive mindset. It’s more just like, how can I make this a great experience for the people watching?”

When she’s not writing or performing her poems filled with images from nature, and infused with a love of family, Prakash said she spends time outdoors.

“I’ve always been a big biker. I go to bike parks with my neighborhood friends,” she said, adding that she spends time with her 4-year-old golden retriever named Nala. “She’s just the cutest dog ever.”

Prakash had always loved writing but said she’d been “pretty private” about her work in elementary school. She credits her sixth-grade English teacher Becky Farnum, who she calls “Miss Becky,” with fueling her love of poetry.

“I think she really just showed me how powerful poetry can be,” Prakash said.

Poetry for her isn’t just about expressing herself but sharing the transformative experience that poetry can have with others. She participated in a program with Free Minds, an organization that works with adults who are incarcerated or formerly incarcerated.

Prakash said that sharing the creative process with participants “was just really cool to see for me and it gave me a newfound kind of respect for poetry.”

Prakash said some of her favorite poets are Ocean Vuong, winner of the 2017 T. S. Eliot Prize, and National Youth Poet Laureate Stephanie Pacheco. “I’m definitely, like, really inspired by her.”