The Creative writing club is a new activity that provides students with opportunities to develop their writing skills and share their work. Members meet regularly to explore different styles of creative writing.
The club began as a way to encourage students to express themselves through writing.
“The creative writing club started last semester. What got me started on it was inquiring to some of my students and friends of my students about creative writing, so that I knew that there was an interest. “We just started talking about it. I think part of the way we started talking about creative writing is that I love to share my love of poetry with anyone who’ll listen, and every once in a while you find out that someone else likes poetry. Being able to express yourself creatively in any media is a positive thing. Writing is just both a therapeutic and an aesthetic experience, so it just seemed like a really good thing to do for an after school activity for those who are interested in it,” Ramona McCallum gifted services teacher said.
During regular meetings, students participate in a variety of writing activities and exercises.
“Okay, so basically, we read and we write. Last week, it was an essay and a poem written by the poet laureate of Kansas, Tracy Brimhall. And based on those two pieces, we had some writing prompts that the kids took away and are hopefully working on right now, to take a look at the craft and the style of the author that we focused on. The way that the author expressed herself, used imagery, her various other literary techniques, and then to model our own writing on those pieces. So far, that’s the structure. Reading really cool things and then using those things as inspiration to get going on our own work,” McCallum said.
The club welcomes students of all interests and skill levels, encouraging everyone to participate.
“Everybody is welcome. Absolutely. People who feel brave about writing, people who feel timid about writing, people who know they love the experience, those who think they don’t. Anyone who’s willing to give it a chance, so much is just picking up a pencil and seeing where it goes, seeing where your thoughts go. Yeah, I believe, I really truly believe that, creative writing can be for everybody in one way or another. There’s a lot of delightful contradictions that can happen within a creative writing class and discoveries,” McCallum said.
Students considering joining are encouraged to participate without hesitation and explore their creativity.
“For kids who are thinking about joining, just come and check it out. Come have a snack with us, come see some of the cool things that we’re reading. One of the most amazing things that can happen is that someone who thinks that they don’t like to read or don’t like to write might discover that it’s not so bad,” McCallum said.
A student member of the club then shared the reasoning why they joined the club.
“I joined the creative writing club because last year Mrs. McCallum brought up the idea of the club, and I was immediately on board. I really like reading and writing so I knew I would like it. McCallum also told me l could run the Instagram page and I love doing that too,” Aracely Hernandez, Arts & Comm, junior said.
Participation in the club has influenced feelings toward creative writing.
“It made me enjoy writing a lot more because I got to learn more about how to write better and also how to look into the deeper things of what I’m reading so it’s made it a lot more enjoyable,” Hernandez said.
The focus then turned to a piece of writing that stood out to them as a personal achievement.
“I’ve written some poetry since joining this club and I can tell there’s been improvement in the past few months. I have a few poems I’m pretty proud of and I’m working on one currently,” Hernandez said.
The club gives opportunities to create connections with peers.
“It gives me a chance to spend more time with the people I’m already friends with who are in the club, and I’ve been able to meet a few new people. It’s really awesome to get to spend time with people who are interested in the same things as me,” Hernandez said.
Persuadence was then shared for those considering becoming a member in the club.
“It’s worth it! It’s a really welcoming space, we always have food (McCallum is a really good baker), everyone is really nice, and it’s just fun to relax in a room like McCallums,” Hernandez said.
