UW-Whitewater at Work: Milwaukee Madison University School students take creative writing plunge
Released: November 29, 2004
More than 780 students from 61 schools traveled to UW-Whitewater on Nov. 17 to participate in the annual High School Creative Writing Festival.
One of the participating schools, Madison University High School in Milwaukee, brought 30 students and embraced the opportunity to nurture aspiring writers.
“We have so much talent at our school and we don’t get the opportunity very often to travel outside the city to attend a seminar like this one,” Madison University High School English teacher Marilyn Morrow said. “These are gifted kids who have never been exposed to anything like this before.”
Writing categories eligible to the participants included children’s literature, drama and screenplay, short fiction, poetry, science fiction/fantasy, tales of terror and mystery and short fiction. Morrow marvels at the diversity of experience it provides her students.
“This is very important because they get to see other students who are serious about their writing and serious about ‘going places’ with their life following high school,” Morrow said. “I think that it is vital that they have this type of experience in high school when they are still young and still developing their goals in life.”
A group of 12 Madison University students participated in a poetry workshop in the afternoon. Among the students was Briana Mason, who submitted a poem about a slave entitled John-T.
“Everything amazes me because this is a new experience for me and an additional opportunity to become exposed to writing poetry,” Briana said.
For sister Britany Mason, the opportunity to participate in a writing festival opened her eyes into the magic of creative writing.
“Prior to coming here (Whitewater) I really didn’t know how to properly put a poem together. Today I’m learning that aspect of writing,” Mason said. “I’ve also been taught how powerful words can be.”
Another senior, Montario Pate, submitted a science fiction fantasy piece dealing with traveling back in time to 1692, Salem, Massachusetts and being accused of being a witch. The project started out as a writing assignment in 11th grade English and developed into a writing sample entered in the competition.
“The main thing I have learned today is that writing is cool.” Pate said.
Marquis Hackney submitted a poem expressing his feelings about his grandfather in life and death.
“Today’s seminar has allowed me to compare my feelings towards writing and poetry to the feelings of others. Being able to hear the writer explain the reasoning behind his or her submission makes me appreciate it even more,” Hackney said. “I know there is a lot of good talent out there and the message I’m getting today is to never be afraid to do what you do best.”
The Creative Writing Festival often proves to be a stepping stone for a student’s creative writing talents, according to Morrow.
“When kids get in a situation like this and they see other students having such a positive feedback to their work it is so vital in taking the student’s writing talent to the next step,” she said.
- Tom Pattison,pattisot@uww.edu
