Writing Center Continues Success in Fourth Year of Operation
What is the Writing Center? The Writing Center at Henry Grady High School, one of the few writing centers in a public school in Georgia, is in its fourth year of operation. In 2008, the Grady High School Foundation declared, “The skill of writing, or lack thereof, is a determining factor of success in numerous career choices – law, business, teaching, research, writing – and is the backbone of clear and organized thinking. Whatever the task, writing well is essential.”
Without fanfare the Grady Foundation opened the center inside the school’s Media Center. Thanks to additional support from the Boys High School Alumni Association (BHSAA), the WC is operational four afternoons a week, and conducts workshops and writing competitions, as well as a summer writing camp. “We can draw from our own experience the importance which the ability to write well has been in our own careers and the part it played in our lives,” stated Leon Eplan, member or the Board of BHSAA.
The Writing Center aims to be a place for students to receive assistance with assignments or their pleasure writing (artistic, editorial, technical); a place to access resources (writing samples, dictionaries, computers, guide sheets from Agnes Scott’s Writing Center); a place to see and hear other writers (workshops, writing contests, outside experts); and a place that connects talented students to other writing opportunities. The goal of the center is to build a community of writers.
On any given afternoon in the Grady Writing Center, students sign in, slough off their backpacks, grab a few cookies or maybe a tangelo, pull out their writing on a notepad or a laptop and begin to talk.
“I’m working on my common application essay, and I was wondering if you’d take a look at this,” she said as she pushed the carefully handwritten paper across the table.
“We’re supposed to write a research paper and I’m not sure what I want to research. Mr. Darden said it can be on anything. I’m thinking about mythology . . . or maybe the Gullah,” another student said.
One student described it this way: “It is an environment for kids to be able to work on any academic assignments and to be privileged to get a snack or two while Ms. Bolster and a volunteer assist kids to become better writers.”
Under the coordination of Ms. Riki Bolster, a former Grady High School journalism teacher, the Writing Center has also focused on collaborating with the teachers and staff at Grady to conduct workshops (poetry writing, college essay writing, GGT Writing preparation, playwriting) and writing contests (poetry, short story, and personal essays).
All the activities are not solely for students. Riki Bolster, put out a call for the creation of a monthly book club – for adults only. The Grady Book Club has been meeting for two years to discuss a variety of books (fiction, classics, nonfiction) selected by the group of Grady parents and community members.
“Volunteers are needed and welcome,” declares Ms. Bolster. “I know there are many talented Grady alumni out there, and I welcome the contribution of their skill and knowledge to the next generation.” If you have some time to offer, contact Ms. Bolster at bolsterr@bellsouth.net .
Success Stories. “My world is happier because of you! Thank you very much,” the simple note with sunny daffodils said. She had just passed the Georgia Graduation Test Writing portion on her first try. And thanks to the Grady Writing Center she is not the only one with a fairy tale ending.
Her English was deeply accented and she had been in the States for barely a year when she and her sister began coming to the Grady Writing Center (WC) that fall. They and several other eleventh graders became regulars, practicing over and over again the structure of a basic essay. They determinedly waded through essay topic after essay topic: mandatory school uniforms, voting age, same sex schools, ecology. They returned in December to tell of their success.
More success stories have been coming forth as students who worked on college essays in the Writing Center also return with good news of college acceptances and scholarships. Five of the seven Grady Posse Scholarship recipients this year used the assistance of the Writing Center.
