Read the poem that won adoptee Lily Rose Macaluso a 2025 Holt Adoptee Scholarship. Congratulations Lily!
Every year, Holt awards scholarships to three adoptees graduating high school and planning to pursue further education. We ask them to submit work based around a question or theme relating to the adoptee experience and encourage them to interpret the prompt creatively — whether through an essay, digital art or any other form that inspires them. This year, applicants responded to the prompt, “What is one thing you wish your family, friends or society knew about the adoptee experience?”
For her submission, Lily Rose Macaluso wrote the following poem:
“Those lips, those eyes,” her mother would say, Always took her breath away. From first glance, he loved me so, His forever girl to love and grow.
They flew across the ocean far and wide, To claim their daughter by their side. Our family complete — my two brothers and I — A house full of laughs and an occasional cry.
Our love grew strong, like entwined vines, Adoption and biology — just blended lines. “You don’t look like your parents,” some would speak, Echoes linger, soft yet deep.
These words so simple yet pierced my heart, A subtle stab at my different start. “Where is your real mom?” kids would ask, As if switching moms was a simple task.
She’s the one who kissed my scraped-up knees, And always embraced me with a warm, tight squeeze. The woman who sang me to sleep every night — Is somehow less real? Is somehow less right?
They compare my eyes, my skin, my face, Trying to make sense of my family, my place. But family is more than physicality; It shapes our truth, our shared reality.
So, when you notice that I look different, Know our bond is deep and significant. And when you ask, “Where is your real dad and mom?” Know that they’ve been by my side all along.
A love so endless, so true, so strong — They are my anchor. They are where I belong.
Lily Macaluso was adopted from China at 15 months old in 2008, joining her loving family in New Jersey. During high school, Lily was an active student who played on the tennis team and participated in a variety of extracurricular activities. Beyond school, Lily embraced her community — working as a camp counselor and scooping ice cream at a local shop. She also enjoyed babysitting for neighborhood families, quickly becoming a trusted helper to younger kids. Lily is now a student at Florida Gulf Coast University, where she is majoring in exercise science with plans to pursue a career as a physical therapist.
See this year’s other winning Holt Adoptee Scholarship submissions!
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