Studio STL: opportunity, achievement and zines
Kelley Dunn
Issue date: 2/23/07 Section: Entertainment
When author Dave Eggers (You Shall Know Our Velocity) founded the organization 826 Valencia in San Francisco, there was no telling how much the project would grow. The nonprofit writing center and tutoring workshop strives to help students aged 8-18 with their writing skills. In addition to its San Francisco location, the project has reached New York, Michigan, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago and, hopefully, St. Louis.
The Undergraduate English Club is working in conjunction with an organization based on the values and ideas of 826 Valencia: Studio STL. According to studiostl.org, the organization's Web site, the group strives to "… help students discover, develop and celebrate their individual voice through writing." The semester-long project is working in part to help Studio STL achieve an affiliation with 826 National and to bring the official program to St. Louis. An affiliation with a project as prominent as 826 National would not only bring the city to the forefront, but it would also provide much-needed help to children across the metro area who otherwise would not receive a channel through which they could express themselves through writing.
According to Ellen Crowell, the Undergraduate English Club's adviser, the workshops will run for eight weeks. In these workshops, SLU students will help a group of students from various local schools to further their writing abilities. Crowell said that the students would be "trained and helped with certain writing strategies in one-on-one or one-on-two sessions." These workshops will cover everything from fiction to poetry to personal essays, which will then be compiled into a 'zine that the club hopes to release in April.
"The 'zines will be sold at the end of the course at the art.thought.beauty showcase," said Crowell. art.thought.beauty is an event held at the end of the semester showcasing student writing and artwork. Anyone may submit works for this event.
Studio STL is a unique venture for the Undergraduate English Club. The members hadn't done many activities with the wider St. Louis community before, as all of their past events had been "within SLU and on campus. It's exciting to be pushing out into the community," Crowell said.
Studio STL benefits everyone. The members of the Undergraduate English Club share their love of creative writing, work on teaching skills and help children. Mike McShane, president of the club, said, "We're all super-pumped to help develop in these kids the creative impulses that we value so much in our own lives." The children involved get to hone their writing skills and socialize with other kids struggling in the same areas. Everyone wins, and, as 826 Valencia's mission statement says, everyone involved gets to "explore their love of writing."
Those interested in or having questions about joining the Undergraduate English Club, or helping out with Studio STL, should contact either McShane (mcshanmq@slu.edu) or Crowell (crowelle@slu.edu). The project takes place on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. in the Humanities Building, Room 142. Doughnuts are provided.
The Undergraduate English Club is working in conjunction with an organization based on the values and ideas of 826 Valencia: Studio STL. According to studiostl.org, the organization's Web site, the group strives to "… help students discover, develop and celebrate their individual voice through writing." The semester-long project is working in part to help Studio STL achieve an affiliation with 826 National and to bring the official program to St. Louis. An affiliation with a project as prominent as 826 National would not only bring the city to the forefront, but it would also provide much-needed help to children across the metro area who otherwise would not receive a channel through which they could express themselves through writing.
According to Ellen Crowell, the Undergraduate English Club's adviser, the workshops will run for eight weeks. In these workshops, SLU students will help a group of students from various local schools to further their writing abilities. Crowell said that the students would be "trained and helped with certain writing strategies in one-on-one or one-on-two sessions." These workshops will cover everything from fiction to poetry to personal essays, which will then be compiled into a 'zine that the club hopes to release in April.
"The 'zines will be sold at the end of the course at the art.thought.beauty showcase," said Crowell. art.thought.beauty is an event held at the end of the semester showcasing student writing and artwork. Anyone may submit works for this event.
Studio STL is a unique venture for the Undergraduate English Club. The members hadn't done many activities with the wider St. Louis community before, as all of their past events had been "within SLU and on campus. It's exciting to be pushing out into the community," Crowell said.
Studio STL benefits everyone. The members of the Undergraduate English Club share their love of creative writing, work on teaching skills and help children. Mike McShane, president of the club, said, "We're all super-pumped to help develop in these kids the creative impulses that we value so much in our own lives." The children involved get to hone their writing skills and socialize with other kids struggling in the same areas. Everyone wins, and, as 826 Valencia's mission statement says, everyone involved gets to "explore their love of writing."
Those interested in or having questions about joining the Undergraduate English Club, or helping out with Studio STL, should contact either McShane (mcshanmq@slu.edu) or Crowell (crowelle@slu.edu). The project takes place on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. in the Humanities Building, Room 142. Doughnuts are provided.
Be the first to comment on this story