The Virginia G. Piper
Center for Creative Writing

Akhila Bandlora is co-president of Creative Youth of Arizona. Above all else, she is a poet. Akhila believes poetry is more than a creative practice, and rather it's a way of carefully considering the world & people around you. Right now, her favorite poem is “The Summer Day” by Mary Oliver.

She's a rising sophomore at Princeton University. In high school, she served on the City of Phoenix's Youth Arts and Culture Council, tested the quality of nearly all the water bodies near her home, and story-mapped the small business in her community.

Akhila is excited by cookies, the growth of plants, and cold brew coffee. She makes really good blackberry jam.