Kayla Clark

After hosting Metea’s first ever Writer’s Week, organizers and participants alike believe the event to be a success

Throughout this past week, the English Department and LMC hosted their first writer’s week with writing workshops, author visits, alumni guests, and educator guests. All students were able to attend during all lunch periods in the LMC Collaboration Center to celebrate the gift of writing.

As Monday was geared towards Metea alumni authors, individuals including Reki Prem, Cara Neidenbach, Darby Sherwood, Zainie Qureshi, and Abbey Malbon attended a period each to showcase their accomplishments post-high school. This allowed students to gauge how pursuing different pathways with writing can look for inspirational purposes.

In the days following, events such as current student author panels, published professional author presentations, educated author presentations, and free writing workshops were held. A highlight was the visit made by nationally known published author Dashka Slater who wrote The 57 Bus & Accountable.

One of LMC Director Amy Madzinski’s goals of the week was to attract new people into the world of writing while celebrating those who already write and want to improve.

“We have a few students who are already published writers and recent alumni who are both speaking throughout the week. So we hope that it just kind of ignites a spark in students to be like, ‘I could do that,’” Madzinski said.

Since this is the first year Metea is hosting this event, Rebecca Walker, Karen Aigner, and Madzinski are leading the organization of this full-week event. They have high aspirations for the future, though.

“We’re hoping that there’s enough interest this year that some kids will want to pick up the organizing committee,” Madzinski said.

For further information on the previous week, check out Metea Valley Writes.