We started a new tradition in Creative Writing this year, and to be quite honest I wasn’t so sure of it at first. When you reach a certain grade in CW we have to complete a certain project that challenges us and teaches something new to the class. Freshman year: Figure out what the hell you’re doing. Sophomore year: Cultural heritage project. Senior year: Senior thesis. Notice how Juniors aren’t up there. This year we implemented an immersive and eye-opening project: Junior year Speaker Series.
Emily, our new CW director mentioned that us as juniors didn’t have a grade-wide project to share with the rest of the department. Personally, I wanted it to stay that way. Eleventh grade is by far the most stressful and busy out of your whole high school career. APs, extracurriculars, jobs, SAT, and on top of that preparing for college applications in the fall. Not to mention your family, friends, and your own mental health. I thought there was no way I would be able to handle one more thing. I would break, collapse, run out of breath and time. And although that happened, I also gained more experience and knowledge from it.
The Speaker Series is when Emily invites artists, specifically bay area artists this time, to come to SOTA and give a small presentation about their art and why they started. Then as groups we Juniors take notes, research this artists, and have a bit of Q+A with them. As an interviewee and audience my biggest takeaway was fulfillment. Where does it come from? What does it bring for you? And how does it affect the world around you? Me, Zeke 26’ and Kendall 26’ interviewed a bay area and Iranian Artist: Minoosh Zomorodinia. We saw her work at the David Ireland house and got to understand her work in a deeper and more personal way. She talked about her work in many different mediums and how the biggest motif in her art is community. She captures people coming together and how that in itself is art. That is her fulfillment. Although I was hesitant to do this project it made me realize my own, and that’s being able to help people tell their stories. Where is your fulfillment?