<p>Hey, this is particularly for my cousin who is a good writer and loves to write, wants to be a journalist, though she also has interests in psychology and a few other things. She is also a Junior, so I want to encourage her to do things.</p>
<p>The obvious one is to read. What about other things, besides joining the school newspaper, should she do?</p>
<p>I know about the scholastic portfolio awards, and the davidson fellows. Are there any others?</p>
<p>Enter the National Foundation for advancement in the arts competition (for seniors) in the writing category. Becoming a finalist would be hugely helpful.</p>
<p>Many high schools have journalism courses. Could she fit one into her schedule?</p>
<p>Working on the school literary magazine or yearbook might also be interesting. The newspaper is often not the only school publication.</p>
<p>Some high schools have writing centers, where kids who need help with writing assignments can get help from other students who are more skilled at writing. If there's one at her school, perhaps she could volunteer to work there.</p>
<p>Great ideas! Any others?</p>
<p>Also, Marian, I don't think we have a literary magazine, I wish we did though.</p>
<p>Starting a literary magazine would be something worth doing. When I ran reading is fundamental we used to put together a pretty simple summer reading suggestions with book reviews by the kids. Doing it either at the high school or volunteering to organize something similar at an elementary school would be a nice thing to do. Would there be any interest in poetry slams?</p>
<p>Hmm, the problem is (which I kind of noticed before) is that I don't think our school population is very literary at all... I can't imagine more than a few people who read much of anything. I may be wrong for her grade or other lower grades though...</p>
<p>Getting something published would be a great way to show both passion and talent for writing - poetry, a short story, an essay, something. It doesn't have to be in a famous national publication (although that would be great); a local or regional publication would suffice.</p>
<p>If the local school isn't very literary, is there a local (small) newspaper who might consider a high school columnist who writes for free?</p>
<p>Just out of curiosity- what is the best avenue to getting something published? I know you are supposed to be familiar with the style of the medium, and send things to the appropriate place. But, is there a good place to send first efforts?</p>
<p>I did a little googling. The Framingham LIbrary site has some suggestion for teen interested in being published: <a href="http://framinghamlibrary.org/teen/writing.htm%5B/url%5D">http://framinghamlibrary.org/teen/writing.htm</a></p>
<p>I don't know your cousin's location or whether there are extra funds for things like summer enrichment programs, but I highly recommend the Bard College summer program on campus for writers. It's called "Institute for Language and Thought." My D loved it. She lived in a dorm for 3 weeks near Great Barrington, Massachusetts, attended classes daily and wrote all afternoon. The prof was very inspiring. It was their freshman first-semester writing course that's usually taught to entering freshmen of ages 16-17 at their Simon's Rock program, which admits kids to college right after sophomore year, I think. I hope the program still exists.</p>
<p>Thanks, great suggestions.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I highly recommend the Bard College summer program on campus for writers. It's called "Institute for Language and Thought." My D loved it. She lived in a dorm for 3 weeks near Great Barrington, Massachusetts, attended classes daily and wrote all afternoon. The prof was very inspiring. It was their freshman first-semester writing course that's usually taught to entering freshmen of ages 16-17 at their Simon's Rock program, which admits kids to college right after sophomore year, I think. I hope the program still exists.
[/quote]
For those closer to the left coast, there is a similar program started by the same folks from Bard, at Lewis & Clark College in Portland. It's called "Fir Acres Workshop in Writing & Thinking." My daughter attended this past summer and loved it.
<a href="http://www.lclark.edu/org/firacres/%5B/url%5D">http://www.lclark.edu/org/firacres/</a></p>