First and foremost, all of the staff at the Young Writers’ Workshop would like to extend a big thank you to all those who made it out to the reading today. It meant so much to the young writers, instructors, and director that so many of you came to support creative writing and our young writers. We’ve had an excellent week at the Workshop, and this final reading was the best capstone we could have hoped for!
As you can see, the young writers really enjoyed their week!
Unlike the rest of the week, this morning’s focus was mainly on getting ready for this afternoon’s reading. Now, that doesn’t mean it was all work and no play. We still had plenty of fun in the process and got to see a lot more of K-State’s beautiful campus. In our first activity, the young writers ventured across campus on a scavenger hunt to familiarize themselves with buildings, monuments, and landmarks at Kansas State University.
Hannah knows where they need to go next!
Malea reads The Blue Dinosaurs’s next clue.
The Scribes of Gondor ponder their next clue.
While it’s still debatable who truly won the scavenger hunt, we all ended at K-State’s Hale Library. We were met by Dr. Sara Kearns, an Associate Professor and Academic Services Librarian at Hale, in the Great Room (AKA the Harry Potter Room). After Sara spoke with the young writers about Hale, the young writers then spent time working on writing and revising their pieces for the reading.
Afterwards the young writers practiced reading their work to their peers at the Campus Creek Amphitheater. While it can be extremely nerve-racking to read your work aloud to a group of people, all of the young writers were very supportive of one another during their practices.
At 2:00pm, parents, guardians, siblings, grandparents, friends, K-State professors, and alums of the program came to a reception for the young writers. This was a great time to get to know more about the young writers and their family and friends. Additionally, we took group photos of our 2017 Young Writers Workshop crew.
The Scribes of Gondor!
Baby Groot!
The Blue Dinosaurs!
The 2017 Young Writers’ Workshop!
When our reading began at 2:30pm, Dr. Katy Karlin gave opening remarks, thanking those who made this week possible: The Beach Museum, the English Department at Kansas State, Dr. Karin Westman, our department head, and Helen and Duke Dupre, our incredibly generous donors and K-State alumni.
We couldn’t do this without our fearless leader, Dr. Katy Karlin! She rocks!
Then, each young writer read a piece of their work from the
week:
Sam
Hannah
Julianna
Sierra
Aidan
Malea
Riggs
Sydney
Katya
Nancy
Sahana
Ava
Tyler
Bri
Giovanni
To see more photos from today’s reading, visit our Facebook page!
And just like that, the 2017 Young Writers’ Workshop has come to a close. It was definitely a week that I won’t forget. Thank you again for all of those that made this week possible! We appreciate all of your support.
It has been an absolute joy to serve as your Program Assistant!
-Kirsten Hermreck
K-State Young Writers' Workshop 