A new club replacing a previous elective offered at Potomac Falls is seeking to encourage students to join a collaborative writing space, empowering students to step out of their comfort zones by reimagining the traditional writing process differently.

Creative writing was once offered as a semester class at Potomac Falls, but was discontinued this school year. For some students, the decision to discontinue a popular elective was disappointing, but some of the students who voiced their dismay decided to turn their disappointment into inspiration by coming up with a new and better alternative. 

Junior Sophie Grard had wished to take the creative writing class this semester, but still wanted to pursue writing as a creative outlet even after the discontinuation of the class. After asking English teacher Amy Heishman to sponsor the club, Grard began coming up with lesson plans. The idea of the creative writing club is to create another space for student writers to express and tap into their storytelling interests, while also encouraging student writers to step out of their comfort zone and write in other genres. 

Meetings are typically held on the first and third Wednesdays of the month at 9:00 AM. At the October 26 interest meeting, the club generated much enthusiasm, with at least 20 people attending, according to Grard. The social media outreach campaign appeared to be successful. Grard began the interest meeting by presenting her colorful slides that were decorated with fun, multicolored emoticons perfectly fitting to the topic of creative writing. She ended the meeting short and simple, leaving room for students to ask her questions and warmly inviting them to the next meeting.

In regards to what an average meeting consists of, Grard said, “The club has only just started, but our first meeting discussed the Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards, and encouraged members to discuss their current writing ideas with the club.”

Grard continued to mention that once the club gets underway, students will discuss inspirational pieces and converse and write about creative writing prompts and ideas. The ultimate goal for the club, according to Grard, is to share writing pieces among club members not only for peer reviewing and improving purposes, but to simply create friendships bonded together through writing.

Grard hopes for club members to find writing opportunities through the school and in the community by partaking in this club. Some of the potential writing opportunities listed on her recent presentation slide include: publishing short stories and other works on The Roar, poetry readings during open mic nights at local coffee shops, fundraisers and writing contests. 

Grard emphasizes there is no requirement needed to join the club. “There is no special criteria for members. All are welcome,” said Grard. This also includes students from any grade level, even those with little to no writing experience. 

Although Grard founded the Creative Writing Club, she is not alone in ensuring this club is successful. She co-leads with junior Triss Smith, while juniors Danya Al-Haddad and Maryam Jadoon are the club’s co-vice presidents. There is no secretary or treasurer position yet. “We’re looking to see how the club goes and go from there,” said Grard. 

When it comes to this club’s future beyond Grard, she remains optimistic and chooses to stay in the present discussing the club’s goals than venturing out into a timeline where she is no longer a student at Potomac Falls.  “We all still have another year to find a team of officers that would be passionate enough to continue this club after current officers graduate, [but] I’m hopeful,” said Grard. 

Stemming from her Google presentations, it seems as if the creative writing club has a lot on its plate. However, Grard is not worried about the workload and continues to come up with ideas to further the club’s growth. “Our goal for this club is to reach out not only in the PFHS community, but outside the walls of our school. We are currently discussing collaborating with nearby elementary schools in writing short children’s stories for young students if we can,” said Grard.

Ultimately, a word Grard would use to describe the club would be: Relaxed. “We just want to create a fun environment where all students can share their ideas and explore their creative writing opportunities,” said Grard. There are no restrictions or limitations to joining this club, but Grard’s primary objective for the club is to call all writers at Potomac Falls to join the Creative Writing Club.