The WNY Young Writers’ Studio celebrates its third anniversary this summer! Thinking about joining us but haven’t just yet? Well this year, we’re opening up greater opportunities for you to do so.
Studio is not a camp. It isn’t a workshop or an institute either. It is a learning community comprised of teachers and students who have been writing and learning together over time. Many of our fellows have been a part of our program since we opened our doors in 2008, but we have new members joining us at nearly every session throughout the year.
At Studio, all young writers are our teachers, and all of the teachers learn from them as well as from each other. We also identify young people who are eager to become teachers of writing and provide them internship opportunities as well as professional development. Our vision, our strategic planning, and the work that we produce happens collectively, collaboratively, and far more powerfully than anything I could have ever done alone.
Those who join our program, regardless of their age or title, assess their needs and set unique learning goals which they pursue throughout their fellowship. These goals are aligned to our greater vision, which we achieve collaboratively over time. As we attend to the growth of our Dispositions as well as writer’s process and craft, we strive to achieve a common purpose as well: to use our words in ways that will serve others.
The WNY Young Writers’ Studio is a product of my own learning and growth. I began my career as a teacher who longed for more than event-based professional learning opportunities. I evolved into a staff developer who was eager to provide them. Joining Communities for Learning: Leading Lasting Change helped me understand that if we are to establish communities that last, we must commit to tapping and leveraging our internal expertise rather than delivering our vision or our wisdom to others. This requires us to reconsider everything we assumed or overlooked about alignment, representation, culture, and sustainability. We must also reconsider what we thought we knew about leadership.
As you can tell, I’m more than a little bit excited about what we’ve accomplished together and where we’re headed.
Wanna come along?
