The Collinsville High School Writing Center hosted the first annual Write On Festival on February 26, 2016 to showcase CHS creative talent and guest speakers from the metro area writing community.
The day-long event featured discussions of various art forms including poetry — from haiku to slam — essays, articles, plays, lyrics, and novels. CHS English classes rotated through the presentations and participated in Q&A sessions. Each hour length segment included works by CHS writers as well as guest professionals. CHS student art was also honored.
Collinsville High School’s Writing Center was launched this school year to provide tutoring and assistance to students, but also to nurture writing talent among the student body.
Ms. Katrina Knebel, Mrs.Tiffany Droege and Ms.Talisha Chambliss are the CHS teachers behind the Writing Center and Write On Festival. They staff the Writing Center daily and were inspired to develop the Write On Festival at CHS after attending a conference in St. Louis.
Guest speakers included:
Brian Munoz, CHS 2015 graduate, photographer and student journalist
Rakeda Biggers and Sahara, slam poets from UrbArts in St. Louis
Ben Moeller-Gaa, haiku poet and playwright
Lizzy Peterson, managing editor of St. Louis’ literary magazine River Styx
Washingon University Poetry Slam Team
Fred Venturini, southern Illinois author
Geoff Schmidt, SIUE professor and author
The Writing Center sponsors the CHS Poet Society and encourages all students to hone their writing skills. Ms. Knebel says the Writing Center teachers are very impressed with the high level of student writing talent at Collinsville High School. The Writing Center publishes Kahok Ink, which features original student writing and artwork.
To view the latest issue of Kahok Ink, visit: https://goo.gl/Yg2YHw