by Ruby Jones, Regional Connections Committee Representative, West Tennessee

The award presentation for the Memphis Youth Poet Laureate (MYPL) of 2025 took place on Wednesday, June 11, 2025, at Cafe Noir in Memphis. The 2024 MYPL also attended. Aasritha Butti was selected from among contenders for the role.

About the Youth Poet Laureate Program

The Memphis Youth Poet Laureate Program identifies and celebrates teen poets who exhibit a commitment to artistic excellence, civic engagement, youth leadership and social justice.

Meet Memphis’ New Youth Poet Laureate

Aasritha Butti is a junior at White Station High School (WSHS), where she is active in all aspects of her school.

Ms. Butti has a 4.0 GPA, writes poetry, has a perfect score (36 of 36) on the ACT. She has been on the Principal’s List every semester at WSHS.  Ms. Butti has participated in the Science Olympiad, HOSA, Science Bowl, Quiz Bowl, and Biology Olympiad. She also  organized monthly speaker events and volunteer opportunities for the largest academic club at WSHS as Activities Director and maintained all correspondence between officers and 100+ members as Secretary. 

For the past 3 years Aasritha has won three Scholastic Gold Keys (top 5% of regional submissions) and was chosen to be a National Student Poet Program Semifinalist (top 50 out of 40,000 poetry submissions). She also led her high school’s WordSmith team in local competitions, organizing informal workshops. 

Aasritha has worked as a Kumon Tutor in Memphis since 2021, teaching students aged 5 to 18 concepts in Math and English. Since 2024, she has organized weekly packets for over 100 students every two weeks for Computational Chemistry Research, Memphis. Since 2022, she has worked under the guidance of Dr. Nathan DeYonker to perform ORCA optimizations for the enzyme chorismite mutase in transition states at HOSA in Memphis.

She received 1st Place for the Regional Clinical Laboratory Science Event Quiz Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee, and qualified for Nationals 3x as member of Quiz Bowl A Team. Since 2022, she has hosted the fall quiz bowl tournament at WSHS as Quiz Bowl Tournament Director. Aasritha has also made appearances on local TV station (WREG-3) as a Knowledge Bowl member and is currently a Quarterfinalist in the competition eligible for $7,500 scholarship General Science Clubs in Memphis.