At Oak Hills High School there are many ways to be involved. There are tons of different sports one could try and there’s certainly a club out there for everyone, however, one particular club especially stands out: The Oak Hills Writing Club.
If you are looking for a creative outlet that will also help grow your skills as a writer, you should look into joining the Writing Club. While lesser known among the school, The Writing Club deserves more attention for all the good it really has to offer.
I had the pleasure of interviewing one of the club’s instructors, English teacher Craig Bishop and Writing Club member, Sarah Sieve. After discussing with the two of them, I learned some of the many skills the writing club has to offer its members. Creativity, teamwork, and resourcefulness are all skills built upon in Writing Club.
When first asked about the skills learned in Writing Club, Bishop responded, “Creativity, working through the creative process. Kids these days definitely struggle with coming up with their own creative ideas.” To Bishop, students can be very creative but often struggle to find that spark or creative outlet that allows them to express themselves, so he believes Writing Club could help kids expand in that area. Even if a student struggles with writing, Writing Club could help them kindle any interest they may have in writing and eventually allow them to grow into more successful writers. Bishop says he thinks everyone could benefit from Writing Club. One of the club’s members, Sarah Sieve, a Sophmore claimed, “I am currently trying to write a book, page by page. I’ve always wanted to write a book when I was little. I was somewhat apprehensive on trying to do a memoir because I felt like I was too young to do it, but once again the teachers helped me so much to at least try!” To Sieve, Writing Club allows her to fully express her creativity with the help of her teachers and has even pushed her to work on a book despite her past concerns.
Another strength Writing Club presents is teamwork. According to Bishop, “The kids can give their stuff to us and we’ll review their work, but we encourage them to work together because that collaboration is another good skill we work on.” In Writing Club, it is important for students to work together for a common goal. Oftentimes students may find themselves struggling to collaborate with their peers, especially if they are unfamiliar with each other, but Writing Club encourages students to work together instead of working alone.
Last but not least, the final takeaway from the writing club I’d like to point out is resourcefulness. In the Writing Club, students learn how to properly utilize different tools and resources which is important in every article. Knowing the right and wrong usage of resources such as AI and how to properly research are skills some students struggle with. According to Bishop, they would like to teach students about the proper uses of AI such as using it to develop research questions. Bishop believes that there is a place for AI in the writing process, it just shouldn’t be used to craft entire papers or do students’ homework, so teaching kids the where and when for AI usage is extremely important.
Overall, the Oak Hills Writing Club can be extremely beneficial to all students, especially those who struggle with writing. Writing doesn’t need to be your strong suit for you to not only benefit from Writing Club but also enjoy it, so if you are interested, give it a try! The community would love to welcome new members. Contact Mr. Bishop at [email protected] or Mrs. Rohlfer at [email protected] with any questions.
