On March 1st, Campo’s Poetry and Creative Writing Club will be co-hosting its first public event of the year with Miramonte’s Writer’s Mag at the Miramonte library. It won’t only be a contest open to all submissions of creative writing, but an open mic night after the reading period as well.
This is the first event the two academically and athletically conflicting schools are throwing together in at least a decade; the student leadership teams behind both writing clubs have also chosen to join forces with their respective faculties, as members of both Miramonte and Campolindo staff will be judging submissions from the writing contest. From Campo, AP English teacher Jake Donohoe, and from Miramonte, English teacher Ann Marie MacVey, as well as the Miramonte librarians Amy Krochmal and Susan Williams.
Senior Laurel Tringe, current president of the Poetry and Creative Writing Club at Campo, commented on the difficulties of the collaboration between the two schools: “We’ve been trying to work out a collaboration since last year, but we just weren’t able to end up doing it. This year, we got our act together; it also helps that Miramonte’s writing club has a lot more members than Campolindo. We have a stronger base to work from.”
Junior Emma Wong, who is the president of Miramonte’s Writer’s Mag, has also expressed her appreciation of the cooperation between Campo and Miramonte by stating: “This was the culmination of our ideas about hosting something that would celebrate creative writing & young voices.” Both presidents have adamantly advocated for the inclusion of every individual in both student bodies to submit to the writing contest, as everyone is eligible, in order to gain awareness of their respective clubs as well as meet common goals.
All writing contest submissions closed on February 19th for final review from the teacher judges, however, there is still a chance for interested students to participate more verbally in the event. “All creative voices are welcomed to participate in the Open Mic. Students will read pieces for 2 minutes or less to allow time for all who are interested to read their work,” Wong explained. “Three winners from the writing contest will be selected and announced at our Open Mic, but [people] can reach out to anyone who wants to read.”
In anticipation of the event, both club officer teams have taken to promoting the open mic on social media with the promise of food, beverages, and music. “We’ve been planning to have food and prizes for a while, so that went in the weekly roundup at Campo,” Tringe said when prompted. “The prizes for the writing contest winners include a free writing class for the first place winner, gift cards for places like Tangelo and iTea, as well as free T-shirts,” she added. Meanwhile, Wong has rounded up Miramonte’s Writer’s Mag team for other types of promotion, and said, “We’re posting flyers and Canvas reminders, and we’ve embedded an ‘ad’ on our school’s newspaper promoting the Open Mic.”
While Campolindo and Miramonte have always been rival schools in the district, it seems that literature will be the thing that brings them together–thanks to the efforts and the creative passions of both writing clubs.
