March 22, 2022
“I have a dream,” said Brazzy Hildebrandt as she read her poem on stage in front of 85 of her peers and staff members at RCS Empowers, Inc. Students in Emily Weber’s creative writing classes wrote original poems and read them in their classes. After seeing their excitement and progress, Ms. Weber had an idea: encourage them to express themselves on a larger stage. “Today was an opportunity to get our participants on stage to share their talent and build their confidence by performing in front of their peers,” said Weber. “Participants enjoyed being in the limelight on stage. I believe this will be a safe way to let participants express themselves. I look forward to seeing other classes highlight what they are doing.”
The poetry reading was held as a culmination of several months of studying poems as they related to topics being learned in class. For example, when the class studied the Lunar New Year, they also studied Spring Couplets, a type of poem popular in Chinese Culture during their New Year’s celebrations.
The poetry presentation highlighted participants who chose to read aloud as well as artwork from others in the classes. This allowed participants who did not wish to read on stage to be a part of the presentation as well. Prior to the performance, Weber shared with participants what was expected of an attentive audience and the importance of being respectful to those on stage. The support and excitement of their peers helped give participants the confidence to share their writing.
Creative writing classes have been a part of the RCS curriculum for many years. The objectives of the classes are to learn about parts of speech, spelling, grammar, and most importantly creative self-expression. The outcomes are truly remarkable!
