Creative Writing Club helps students embrace their imagination

By Masha Yurkevich

Creativity is key to seeing the world from a different perspective, something that is very important in today’s world where everything is an opportunity. The Creative Writing Club at Windham High School allows students to embrace their creative side through creative writing.

Windham High School's Creative Writing Club is advised 
by Chelsea Scott and Lorraine Glowczak and allows for
a warm and welcoming environment for students to let
their creativity shine and share their writing with others.
SUBMITTED PHOTO  

The club was originally started during the 2018/2019 school year by a student named Sophie Phipps, who graduated in 2021, and offered an opportunity for social connections for students during the pandemic. Phipps found purpose in expressing herself through words and hoped that she could create opportunities for other students to do the same.

The Creative Writing Club was her Capstone project and has continued, now led by Lorraine Glowczak and Chelsea Scott, an English teacher at WHS for four years and who is also the Can We? Project liaison.

“Our purpose is to empower students to write creatively and experiment with the art form,” says Scott. “Our hope is to promote art for art’s sake, and the stress relief and creative fulfillment that comes with it. We also offer students a first experience of publication through our journal, Screech Review.”

Scott says that she absolutely loves being a part of the Creative Writing Club.

“Students continually surprise and inspire me with their passion and ideas, as well as their openness to each other,” she says. “This is such a compassionate and welcoming group. I hope that more students will find us and lend their voices! I would also love to see kids experimenting with forms like playwriting.”

Scott shares her advising role with Lorraine Glowczak this year and says that it is a privilege to do so because as a writer herself and the ELO Coordinator at WHS, Glowczak brings so many ideas and so much support for students to the table.

Darcey Langerman and Breeauna Bonin are both seniors and members of the Creative Writing Club. They both joined in their junior year of high school.

Bonin says that she wanted to join the club because Scott oversees it, and Bonin had enjoyed Scott’s class so much. Bonin also loves to write in her free time, so this club seemed like a good fit.

“I like that we have prompts to write to, and I like that people share their pieces so I can hear other ideas and thoughts,” says Langerman.

Having a welcoming group to share their work with and having available time to put aside specifically for writing is something that is important for Creative Writing Club members.

“I am a part of it because I wanted to join a club during my time in high school, and it sounded like I would enjoy it,” says Bonin. “I value it because not only was it my first-ever club, but it also taught me ways to improve my communication and writing skills.”

Corynn Logan, senior at WHS, is the Editor in Chief of the Creative Writing Club.

Logan originally wrote creatively as something to do for fun and has a creative mind that she decided she wanted to use in a literary art form. After a while of writing on a personal level, she wanted to learn more about the topic.

In her junior year, she took a semester-long class that touched on different types of writing. It was during that course that she learned about the school's club. As time went on the semester ended, but she was still full of things she wanted to write about.

“Yes, I knew I could still write even though the class had finished, however, I had grown accustomed to having other members to bounce ideas off of and I loved gaining the confidence to try and write outside of my comfort zone” she says. That was when she started showing up periodically to the club meetings and each week she had worked on a new piece to share.

“Creative writing can be done whenever. Wherever you want to write you can. Writing is an escape for me and most people,” says Logan. “But the best part of creative writing is that it can go in any direction. It has been scientifically proven that the act of writing can increase brain power, speech, and overall peace of mind. Taking some feelings and trying to put them into words can help identify the issues in our lives. I value creativity, and I value the act of free speech and creative writing can help with that. I love being a part of the club because I feel supported and represented as a creative person.”

The Creative Writing Club meets at the capstone office weekly during the student Pride block each Wednesday and welcomes all creative minds to come and let their imagination shine. <