NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — She's a star at Benjamin Franklin High School. A star because of her way with words. She is 17-year-old junior, Amira Konate and she is a poet. "My purpose and my goal in all my work is to make sure that my words are what people feel even if I'm not there directly speaking to them," said Konate. Books & booze: There’s a bar in a New Orleans book shop She's showing WGNO Good Morning New Orleans features reporter Bill Wood her gold medal. Her golden moment comes from the NAACP's ACT-SO New Orleans competition. It's a contest for academic athletes who exercise their creativity from culture to technology to science. For Amira, it's a poem she calls My Last Poem to You. For Amira, who plans to study psychology at an HBCU and become a psychologist, her road to poetry has been a self-journey. There’s ‘snow’ place like Slidell for community theater "At first, I would say it was a road trip, really fun. Instead of just taking it as a free time thing for me, I started making it something I'll do whenever I find something to inspire me," said Konate. As she connects the words, all the rest of us have to do is let go and listen. Stay up to date with the latest news, weather and sports by downloading the WGNO app on the Apple or Google Play stores and by subscribing to the WGNO newsletter. Latest Posts Where Y'at this Weekend: Meowy Christmas Special, Réveillon dinner, New Orleans Bowl, Willie Mae's NOLA What are the requirements to become House speaker? Comedian, author Chelsea Handler bringing big laughs to NOLA NOLA teen gets a gold medal for her way with words Fani Willis disqualified as prosecutor on Trump Georgia election case