Amanda S. C. Gorman was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1998. She was raised by her mother, Joan Wicks, a teacher, with her two siblings.[2][3][4][5] She has a twin sister, Gabrielle, who is an activist[5][6] and filmmaker.[7][8] Gorman has said she grew up in an environment with limited television access.[9] She has described her young self as a “weird child” who enjoyed reading and writing and was encouraged by her mother.[2]
Gorman has an auditory processing disorder and is hypersensitive to sound.[2] She also had a speech impediment during childhood.[10][11] Gorman participated in speech therapy during her childhood and Elida Kocharian of The Harvard Crimson wrote in 2018, “Gorman doesn’t view her speech impediment as a crutch—rather, she sees it as a gift and a strength.”[12] Gorman told The Harvard Gazette in 2018, “I always saw it as a strength because since I was experiencing these obstacles in terms of my auditory and vocal skills, I became really good at reading and writing. I realized that at a young age when I was reciting the Marianne Deborah Williamson quote that ‘Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure’ to my mom.”[1]
Gorman attended New Roads, a private school in Santa Monica, for grades K–12.[13] As a senior, she received a Milken Family Foundation college scholarship.[14] She studied sociology at Harvard College,[15] and graduated cum laude[16][17] as a member of Phi Beta Kappa.[18][19]
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