Writer's Academy encourages elementary students' creativity
By Jeffery Barwick
[email protected]
Assistant Editor
The Writer's Academy is an after-school creative writing program in which Dr. Jon Hershey, professor of English, and Angela Hoskins, a former GHC student, go to different elementary schools and work with students on creative writing skills.
Currently the academy goes to two schools� Anna K. Davie and Southeast Elementary School. "The Writer's Academy has been a very successful program that connects the college to the community in many ways and has also been a great deal of fun," said Hershey.
The Academy teaches children to write stories and poetry by encouraging them to use their imagination and also uses exercises to improve writing skills. At the end of the writing program the children's writing will be published and a community reading will be held.
This year is the fourth year for the program and if funds permit, the program hopes to expand to more schools giving it the opportunity to help more children. The money funded to run the program has been given as a grant from the Rome Area Council for the Arts and Communities in Schools.
Students can volunteer for the Academy for service learning in a class. The only requirement to be a volunteer is completing the brief hour to an hour and a half mentor training session. If anyone is interested in volunteering please e-mail Hershey at [email protected].
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