“Navigating the Margins” Provides Safe Space for Students to Build Creative Writing Skills

October 2nd, 2024

Two years ago, HCPSS’ LGBTQIA+ Initiatives Specialist Danielle DuPuis decided to try something new. With the help of then-senior Ella Heiliger, she applied for, and won a grant from It Gets Better to launch “Navigating the Margins,” an extracurricular creative writing program for HCPSS high school students.

“We had two primary goals in mind when we created the program,” explains DuPuis. “We wanted to provide students with a safe space to explore and enhance their writing skills. And we wanted to give them the chance to publish their stories in a single volume, hopefully enabling readers of those stories to gain new understanding of, and empathy for, the lived experiences of others.”

DuPuis started by reaching out to published authors who could serve as mentors to participating students.

“I wanted to find people who were not just good writers, but who were good at making a connection with students and were interested in helping to build the students’ confidence in writing,” she says.

DuPuis identified and enlisted the help of five authors for the role: Kalynn Bayron, Cierra Kaler-Jones, Kathy MacMillan, Laura Shovan, and R. Eric Thomas.

DuPuis and Heiliger then began the process of selecting student participants from nearly 90 applicants. They selected 25 students, representative of all HCPSS high schools.

The program officially got underway in November 2023, when the selected students participated in an all-day field trip retreat. There, they had the opportunity to meet and engage with each other; participate in various writing workshops; learn about the author-mentors in the program; and select which author-mentor to work with for the duration of the school year.

Participating students subsequently took part in monthly virtual workshops led by the author mentors. Students also submitted up to four pages of written work per month for their author-mentor to review and provide feedback.

In May, students submitted a final draft of a short story to Heiliger and DuPuis, who compiled and self-published them in “Navigating the Margins: A Collection of Stories by High School Students.”

“It was a really neat experience for everyone involved,” DuPuis says. “Students were encouraged to think more deeply about the writing process and build resiliency, all while working directly with professional authors—some of whom wrote books the students read as children or young adults.”

HCPSS students Grace Grant, Noelle Markos, McKenna Gran, Mikko Parker and Tori Yi participated in the program, and agree with DuPuis, citing the enjoyment and satisfaction they found in collaborating with people who shared their interest in creating writing and in working one-on-one with experienced authors.

“It was so great to have a space to collaborate, get new ideas, and spend time with people who shared your interest and respect your work,” says Grant.

“I loved getting feedback from an experienced author,” Parker notes. “Hearing different perspectives on the same piece of writing was also really valuable.”

“The program really helped build my confidence as a writer,” Yi adds.

The author-mentors also enjoyed—and found value in—participating in Navigating the Margins.

“To see young people bring new, fresh takes on the writing process was so good for me as a writer,” Bayron says. “It felt great to give back to the writing community and be able to tell these young, aspiring writers, ‘I believe in you. I see you. I see your work. You belong in this space.’”

“It had been a long time since I had been in a space with such gifted writers at the very beginning of their lifelong journey with writing … It felt like a breath of fresh air [to be with them] every month,” says Thomas.

DuPuis and Heiliger will present about the Navigating the Margins program at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) annual convention in Boston in November, along with most of the author-mentors.

Students who are interested in participating in Navigating the Margins this school year should submit an online application by Wednesday, Oct. 23. Students accepted into the program will be contacted with details on Oct. 25. Shortly thereafter, the 2024-2025 student participants will meet with some of the 2024-2025 author-mentors; build community with their peers; and receive tools to guide them through the first step of the writing process.

For more information on the Navigating the Margins program, please email Danielle DuPuis.