Polytechnic School: From the Tree House

This year, the Writers’ Center has a new home, a charming room upstairs in the Haaga House, surrounded by trees. Some of the students call it “the tree house.” With such an inviting space, it is natural that programs that encourage writing should evolve. This year, Upper School teacher Grace Hamilton has started the “Reading Salons,” during which a student reads from his/her work (personal essay, poetry, analytical piece) at lunch, dessert is provided, and students and teachers come to listen, giving students a chance to share their work in an intimate setting.

In addition, the Center has been full of seniors working on their college essays. They sometimes work together; other times, they just crawl into a cozy corner of the window seat with their computers and write. Poly’s poetry slam team meets nearly weekly in the Center.

This coming February, Poly will host a poetry slam, a competitive event, with Poly’s slam team going up against three or four other schools. In addition, one of Poly’s poets will be performing a spoken word piece at the upcoming Dance Concert, and another poet performed a moving piece to the whole school on Grandparents’ Visiting Day. Students have submitted their poetry and nonfiction to several contests, and Ms. Hamilton is currently receiving submissions for the upcoming Archer Literary Conference in the spring.

Interestingly, Ms. Hamilton was in conversation a few weeks ago with a former writer for The New Yorker who is head of NCTE literary magazines. He had heard of the Center and has asked for some writing from both alums and current students, as he’s interested in creating an anthology of student work. Stay tuned.

So the Center is lively and in full-swing! To read more, click on this link.