Article Contributed on: 7/28/2009 9:46:41 AM
For many kids summer camp means a week in the woods hiking, canoeing, and building camp fires. However, for two dozen kids between the ages 8 and 15, summer camp this year meant the opportunity to write. The Metro Denver Promotion of Letters (MDPL) and the University of Colorado Denver Writing Center hosted two writing camps in July, one for teens ages 12 to 15 and the other for kids ages 8 to 11.
At the beginning of each week, the students were asked to pick a name and place out of a hat. The names included each student in the class, and the assignment was to follow a student throughout the week, secretly taking notes on his/her behavior. Using their notes, the students then wrote stories about that person in the place they also picked. Some stories took place in Africa, the Grand Canyon, or New York City.
The students also took field trips during the day to the Denver Public Library, Museum of Contemporary Art, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and the Flobots Community Center, to inspire them to write about new experiences in their stories.
"We have offered weekend workshops and have collaborated with local schools on writing projects, but we very much wanted to offer an intensive, fun, experiential summer experience for local kids, one that was completely free," said Amanda Lueck Grell, director of the Board of MDPL.
The UC Denver Writing Center provided MDPL and its young writers with computers, couches, whiteboards, and plenty of room to spread out and write, creating a safe, centrally located place to host each day of camp. The Writing Center also allowed the young writers the opportunity to work with graduate students and instructors at UC Denver who typically assist university students, staff, and alumni.
"The UC Denver Writing Center has a history of reaching out to the greater Denver community," said Drew Bixby, assistant director of the UC Denver Writing Center. "Because MDPL needed both a physical space and more volunteers for its summer writing camps, I knew immediately that this collaboration would be the perfect opportunity for our two organizations to join forces."
For more information about future writing workshops, email Metro Denver Promotion of Letters at
promotionofletters@gmail.com.